LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

000Q52HbbE3 







^^ ^ - 
















.<.^'"-^. 






IOWA BIOGRAPHICAL SERIES 

EDITED BY BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH 



GEORGE WALLACE JONES 




c;i:or(;e Wallace joxes 



pi 


^?^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 




^^1 




4 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^t 


GEORGE 


JONE^^^^^^^H 



1 'il,.,r \ M.I M i: lOXKS 



IOWA BIOGRAPHICAL SERIES 

EDITED BY BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH 



GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

BY 
JOHN CARL PARISH 



THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA 
IOWA CITY IOWA 1912 



^ ,-. ^ n L_ 






APR 8 1»^2 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

Described as ''a tall, erect figure, fastidious- 
ly dressed, with an abundance of curling 
black hair, an engaging smile, and the 
manners of a Lord Chesterfield", George 
Wallace Jones was always an interesting 
character, whether in the halls of Congress 
or on the frontier. His varied experiences 
as "farmer, country merchant, lead miner 
and smelter, clerk of court, judge, soldier, 
land speculator, politician, and diplomat" 
suggest the kaleidoscopic career of the early 
middle westerner who was able to raise him- 
self above the commonplace. 

This voliune is not strictly speaking a bi- 
ography : it is, indeed, both biographical and 
autobiographical. The autobiography and 
personal recollections of Jones have been 
supplemented by a comprehensive biograph- 
ical sketch by Doctor Parish. Thus the 
materials of the book have naturally been 
arranged in three parts — I Biographical 
Sketch; II Autobiography; III Personal 



viii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

Recollections. The reader should not over- 
look the Notes and References — especially 
those connected with the Autobiography and 
the Personal Recollections. 

Benj. F. Shambaugh 

Office of the Superintendent and Editor 

The State Historical Society of Iowa 

Iowa City 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

The history of beginnings in the Common- 
wealths of the Upper Mississippi Valley would 
be incomplete without the story of George 
Wallace Jones who as Delegate to Congress 
from the Territory of Michigan secured the 
creation of the Territory of Wisconsin, who as 
Delegate from that Territory in turn brought 
about the establishment of the Territory of 
Iowa, and who, together with Augustus Caesar 
Dodge, first represented the State of Iowa in 
the United States Senate. 

It is the purpose of this volume to portray 
the life of George Wallace Jones primarily by 
means of his own Autobiography and Personal 
Recollections — which are here published for 
the first time — and secondarily by a brief 
Biographical Sketch which it is hoped will serve 
to fill in details left untold by Jones and to fur- 
nish a consecutive outline of the incidents of 
his career, among which the autobiographer 
rambled at times somewhat confusedly. 

The autobiographical materials were found 
by the writer at Dubuque, Iowa, while on a 
search on behalf of The State Historical Society 
of Iowa for data concerning early men and 



X AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

events of that vicinity. The autobiographical 
manuscript was in the possession of Mrs. Linn 
Jones Deuss, a daughter of George Wallace 
Jones, and through her kindness it was loaned 
to The State Historical Society of Iowa to be 
copied for publication. The manuscript con- 
sisted of several hundred pages of typewritten 
matter, written evidently upon the dictation of 
Jones at different periods of time during the 
last ten years of his life. Copies of a variety 
of letters, petitions, and other miscellaneous 
papers were also included in the manuscript. 

The nature of the materials made it necessary 
to take some editorial liberties with the original 
manuscript. The various sections and chapters, 
written at different times, were arranged pri- 
marily in an order that was without system or 
logical sequence. The order of the original 
manuscript was accordingly discarded and the 
sections placed as nearly as possible in their 
chronological sequence. As will be seen the 
materials have been arbitrarily divided into (I) 
the Autobiography and (II) Personal Recol- 
lections. The miscellaneous letters and papers 
have been omitted from this publication. 

One chapter of the Autobiography — that on 
Legislative Matters — is the result of a com- 
bination of two portions of the original and is 
the only part of the manuscript in which the 
arrangement of paragraphs within sections has 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE xi 

been changed. The headings are not in all cases 
the same as given in the original manuscript. 

It was evident from an examination of the 
original manuscript that Jones made little or no 
revision of the document after it had been type- 
written from his dictation. It would not there- 
fore be just to Jones to preserve in the edited 
work all the mechanical defects which may have 
been due to the copyist. Some changes have 
therefore been made in punctuation and capital- 
ization; abbreviated words have usually been 
spelled out ; and in a few cases the wording has 
been slightly modified in order to make the 
meaning clear. At the request of Mrs. Deuss 
the manuscript before being copied was exam- 
ined by her lawyer, Judge D. J. Lenehan, of 
Dubuque, Iowa, who indicated several passages 
to be omitted. Where such omissions occur 
marks indicating the fact have been inserted. 

The memory of Jones was variable. Allow- 
ance should be made for the fact that the ac- 
count of his experiences was dictated by him 
almost entirely from memory after he had 
reached the age of four score years, and more 
than a quarter of a century after the years of 
his public life were over. In many instances his 
memory is vivid and accurate ; but often it slips 
into error. The writer has endeavored to guard 
the reader against inaccuracies, partly by means 
of the Biographical Sketch and partly by the 



xii AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

Notes and References correcting and illumi- 
nating specific points. It is essential, therefore, 
that wherever notes are indicated, they should 
be consulted before the accuracy of the text is 
accepted. There are, doubtless, other inaccu- 
racies which it has been impossible to check up 
and correct in the Notes and References. 

It is proper to state that the publication of the 
Autobiography and Personal Recollections has 
been made possible through the kindness of 
Mrs. Linn Jones Deuss and Judge D. J. Lene- 
han of Dubuque, Iowa, to whom grateful ac- 
knowledgment is hereby made. Through the 
courtesy of Mr. Edgar R. Harlan, Curator of 
the Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa, 
access was had to the collection of volumes 
embodying the Correspondence of George W. 
J ones, which were of great value in the prepar- 
ation of the Biographical Sketch. Acknowledg- 
ments are also gladly given to the editor of the 
Iowa Biographical Series, Dr. Benj. F. Sham- 
baugh, for aid and advice in editing the Auto- 
hiography and Personal Recollections as well 
as for valuable assistance of a more general 
nature. 

John Cakl Paeish 

MoNTCLAiR, Colorado 



CONTENTS 

PABT I 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

I. Formative Period 3 

II. Territorial Office 14 

III. United States Senator 36 

IV. Later Years 58 

PAST II 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

I, George Wallace Jones 75 

II. SiNSINAWA 142 

III. The Close of the Black Hawk War . 148 

IV. Land Matters in Dubuque 151 

V. The Cilley Duel 157 

VI. Legislative Matters 171 

VII. Douglas and the Illinois Central 

Railroad ' 189 

VIII. The Illinois Central Railroad . . . 206 

IX. ]\Iinister to Bogota 216 

X. My Meeting v^ith Abraham Lincoln . 235 

PAST III 
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 

Personal Recollections 251 

Notes and References 305 

Index 335 



PAETI 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



I 

FoEMATivE Period 

It was given to George Wallace Jones to enjoy 
a long life — a life of over ninety-two years, 
spanning almost completely the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Prior to 1861 these were busy years, 
spent in half a dozen frontier States and 
Territories and in a young republic of South 
America; and they were concerned with a 
strange variety of occupations. After the out- 
break of the Civil War he lived his remaining 
thirty-five years in retirement in the town of 
Dubuque — an old man with the spirits of a boy, 
passing his days among men who loved him and 
men who hated him until he was finally gathered 
to his own long-dead generation. 

George W. Jones was born at Vincennes in 
the Territory of Indiana on April 12, 1804. At 
an early age he moved to the Territory of Mis- 
souri. Then, while still a young man, he 
migrated to the Territory of Michigan, where 
he remained in the western part until it became 
the Territory of Wisconsin. Later he crossed 
the Mississippi Eiver and settled in the Terri- 
tory of Iowa. 

With the exception of Ohio, he lived in each 



4 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

of the five Commonwealths of the Old Northwest 
during their Territorial periods ; and from two 
of these western Territories he was sent as 
Delegate to the Congress of the United States. 
He was educated in the State of Kentucky, 
studied law and held office in the State of Mis- 
souri, and was one of the first two United 
States Senators sent to Washington from the 
State of Iowa. At one time or another he was 
farmer, country merchant, lead miner and 
smelter, clerk of court, judge, soldier, land 
speculator, politician, and diplomat. 

The father of George W. Jones was John 
Rice Jones — a Welshman by birth who had 
been well educated in England. Crossing over 
to America at an early date, the father practiced 
law for a brief time in Philadelphia, then moved 
further west, became Commissary in the army 
of George Rogers Clark, and later settled at 
Vincennes. Here he became very prominent in 
the politics of the Territory of Indiana, holding 
numerous offices and exercising large influence 
in the shaping of Territorial events. Particu- 
larly was he active in efforts directed toward 
the introduction of slavery into the country 
north of the Ohio River.^ 

In 1809 John Rice Jones removed to Kas- 
kaskia in the newly organized Territory of 
Illinois, and a year later crossed the Mississippi 
to Ste. Genevieve in Missouri.- Missouri 



FORMATIVE PERIOD 5 

proved no less inviting as a field for political 
activities, and so John Eice Jones became a 
conspicuous member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention of Missouri in 1820 and afterwards 
served several years as Judge of the Supreme 
Court of the State.^ 

George was but six years of age when his 
father moved to Ste. Genevieve. He attended 
a school which was conducted by Mann Butler, 
the historian."* And it was at Ste. Genevieve 
that in 1814 he served as a drummer boy for a 
company commanded by Captain William Linn, 
a younger brother of Lewis F. Linn.^ 

In the fall of this same year, 1814, John Rice 
Jones moved first to New Diggings, a settlement 
northwest of St. Louis, and later to Potosi, a 
few miles distant. At a Catholic College in St. 
Louis, under Bishop Du Bourg, George received 
further education ; and in 1821 he was prepared 
at the age of seventeen to enter the freshman 
class of Transylvania University at Lexington, 
Kentucky. 

The experiences of the next four years in this 
famous old Kentucky institution were probably 
of less value from the standpoint of the acquisi- 
tion of classical and mathematical knowledge 
than from that of associations. Here young 
Jones found great men in the making, and here 
he formed attachments whose influence upon his 
life was profoundly effective. He made the 



6 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

journey to Lexington under the charge of 
Ninian Edwards, United States Senator from 
Illinois. He arrived with letters of introduction 
to Henry Clay and William T. Barry, who were 
to act as his patrons. 

Among his fellow students during these years 
were David R. Atchison, Stevens T. Mason, and 
the young Mississippian who forty years later 
became President of the Southern Confederacy. 
Between Jefferson Davis and George W. Jones 
there sprang up in their college days a friend- 
ship whose warmth knew no abatement during 
life. 

From his autobiography one might infer that 
the incidentals of a college education appealed 
to him more strongly than the curriculum. He 
tells of his classmates and acquaintances in the 
city, speaks of joining the cavalry company of 
Captain Prindle '"for exercise", and relates 
that he was appointed sergeant of the body- 
guard which escorted Andrew Jackson through 
the State of Kentuckj^ in November, 1823, and 
that he performed a similar service in May, 
1824, upon the occasion of Lafayette's visit to 
this country. 

Letters written to him during these years by 
his college mates give hints of still other inter- 
ests. In the summer of 1823, several letters 
written to Jones by E. A. Turpin ask about a 
young lady named Louisa. In one, the solicitous 



FORMATIVE PERIOD 7 

friend inquires: ''How speed yon with Louisa? 
Prosperously I hope though I do not think you 
write rapturously enough of her, for a very 
ardent lover". He further admonishes him: 
"give my love to your 2 girls Ann & Louisa".® 
Jones was of an eminently gallant nature, 
always susceptible to feminine charms, and it is 
probable that he did not pass through his col- 
lege life without more or less serious affairs 
of the heart. There are frequent mentions 
throughout his letters of a Mr. and Mrs. Thomas 
Bodley, and it is more than likely that he lived 
at their home while a student in Lexington. 

In July, 1825, Jones graduated from Transyl- 
vania and returned to Missouri, taking up the 
study of law in the office of his brother-in-law, 
John Scott, at Ste. Genevieve. He spent some 
time in this pursuit, but seems never to have 
been admitted to the bar.'^ Before many months 
had elapsed he became Deputy Clerk of the cir- 
cuit court of the county, and shortly afterward 
he was appointed Clerk of the United States 
District Court — a position which he held for 
several years. 

Confinement in the law office and court-room 
appears to have undermined his health, and so 
upon the urgent advice of his physician. Dr. 
Lewis F. Linn, he decided to migrate to the 
Fever River lead mines and engage in mining 
and smelting for the sake of the out-of-door life. 



8 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

The spring of 1827 found him a squatter upon 
a rising eminence known as Sinsinawa Mound 
in what is now the extreme southwestern corner 
of the State of Wisconsin. Not long after his 
coming he returned to Ste. Genevieve for 
laborers and supplies, and again he became 
prostrated with the fever. It was not until the 
opening of another spring that, with a pony, an 
outfit, and perhaps a dozen French laborers, he 
regained the lead mines. 

Just at this time the rush to the vicinity of 
Galena was at its height. The mines had long 
been worked. The Indians, by slow and cumber- 
some methods, had dug out and smelted the ore 
for many years. In 1822 Colonel James John- 
son came into the district and began operations.^ 
Gradually new-comers arrived and built mining 
shacks and furnaces. The fame of the mines 
spread and diggings sprang up throughout the 
district, peopled by adventurous spirits from all 
quarters of the country and even from Europe. 
Up the river they came in shoals in the spring 
and down again they went in the fall, giving to 
Illinois the name of "Sucker State*' from the 
resemblance of their migrations to those of the 
sucker in the great Mississippi.'^ More and 
more they came to be permanent dwellers, hardy 
men, well equipped with the qualities which 
were essential to the frontiersman. Among the 
men of this type who migrated to the lead mines 



FORMATIVE PERIOD 9 

in the same year with Jones was Henry Dodge 
— a long time friend of Jones in the town of 
Ste. Genevieve. 

At Sinsinawa Mound, upon his return in 1828, 
Jones set up two furnaces and began to smelt 
the lead which his teamsters brought in from 
the surrounding mines. He had also brought 
with him from St. Louis a stock of merchandise 
which he disposed of to the miners. With these 
two forms of occupation he was a busy man and 
a prosperous one as well. The summer was 
enlivened for him by frequent visits from Jef- 
ferson Davis, who, just out of West Point, was 
stationed at Fort Crawford a few miles away. 

As winter approached Jones decided to sus- 
pend mining operations and return to Ste. 
Genevieve until spring. Moreover, there were 
other considerations than those of climate in his 
mind at this time. Three years before, soon 
after his return from college, he had met 
Josephine Gregoire at a ball and had sur- 
rendered immediately to her charms. The 
Gregoire family — one of the old French fami- 
lies that gave so much of culture and of interest 
to the early history of Missouri — had long 
before settled in the neighborhood of Ste. Gene- 
vieve. Josephine was only seventeen, but her 
parents consented to her marriage and the cere- 
mony took place on January 7, 1829. 

It was two years and more, Jones relates, be- 



10 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

fore lie brought his young wife to the lead 
mining country. But it seems probable from 
letters written to Jones in 1829 and 1830 that in 
both of those years he made trips to the mines 
to care for his interests in that region.^^ In the 
spring of 1831, taking with him his wife, 
seven slaves and a number of French laborers, 
he made his way up the river to Sinsinawa 
Mound.^^ Before the year was out, a two-story 
hewed-log house arose beside the two unhewed 
log cabins, and on the crude mining frontier 
Sinsinawa became well known as a place of hos- 
pitality and good cheer. It was the home of 
Jones for over a decade. Here he carried on 
his mining and smelting operations, conducted 
his store, and later served as postmaster.^- 

Dangers as well as hardships attended the 
early inhabitants of the lead mining country. 
In the spring of 1832 the Indian disturbances, 
caused by the re-appearance of Black Hawk on 
the east side of the Mississippi River, became so 
menacing that Jones sent his wife back to Ste. 
Genevieve, built a block-house at Sinsinawa 
Mound and prepared for serious trouble. On 
May 23, Felix St. Vrain, the Indian Agent at 
Rock Island, and a brother-in-law of Jones, was 
massacred, with several companions, east of 
Galena. Jones upon hearing these ill tidings at 
once mounted horse and rode to the spot, where 
he found the troops of Henry Dodge. 



FORMATIVE PERIOD H 

Dodge had been a family friend at Ste. Gene- 
vieve and so it was natural that he should now 
offer to George W. Jones the position of aid-de- 
camp. Jones was delighted to accept the ap- 
pointment and serve with Dodge in the short but 
decisive campaign that resulted in the complete 
humiliation of Black Hawk.^^ While in the 
midst of this campaign, Dodge was appointed 
Major of a battalion of Mounted Rangers.^ ^ As 
a consequence he resigned from his position as 
Colonel in the Militia of Iowa County and Jones 
was elected to succeed him. Some time later, 
upon the occasion of Dodge 's removal from the 
country in connection with military duties,^^ 
Jones was appointed by the Governor of Michi- 
gan Territory to fill the place vacated by Dodge 
as Chief Justice of the county court of Iowa 
County. At the time of holding court Jones re- 
paired to Mineral Point, but he still maintained 
his residence at Sinsinawa Mound. 

The lure of politics was already beginning to 
draw strongly upon Jones. He was nearly 
thirty and was becoming well known throughout 
the entire lead mining region. Happy in dis- 
position and sociable by nature he made friends 
easily. At the opening of the year 1834 he 
learned of the probability of the creation of 
several new land offices, and he at once under- 
took to capture one of the offices in the district 
including the lead mines. He had numerous 



12 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

friends at Washington who offered him assist- 
ance.^^ But the power of nomination lay with 
Lucius Lyon, at that time Delegate from the 
Territory of Michigan; and it appears that he 
named John P. Sheldon for the office. In a long 
friendly letter to Jones he gave his reasons for 
the nomination ; and yet he was free to acknowl- 
edge "that no person in the mines had done 
more, or even as much, in that section of the 
Territory, to deserve the appointment" as had 
Jones.^'^ 

During all these years of pioneering at Sin- 
sinawa Mound, this region had been under the 
jurisdiction and a part of the Territory of Mich- 
igan; and during this time there had been 
frequent attempts to bring about a division, 
creating a new Territorial government west of 
the lake.^^ Various causes had led to the frus- 
tration of these attempts. The desire on the 
part of the inhabitants of Michigan Territory 
east of the lake to form a State government 
proved more effective in hastening such division 
than did efforts from the west side. In May, 
1835, delegates duly elected from the eastern 
counties met at Detroit and drew up a constitu- 
tion for the State of Michigan, which instrument 
was adopted by the people in October of the 
same year.^^ 

Although Michigan was not formally admit- 
ted to the Union until January, 1837, yet the 



FORMATIVE PERIOD 13 

creation of a State organization east of the lake 
in 1835 left the governmental powers of the Ter- 
ritory of Michigan vested in the inhabitants 
west of the lake; and among the powers to be 
exercised by them was the election of a Terri- 
torial Delegate. The date for this election was 
finally set for the first Monday in October, 1835. 
Candidates sprang np like mushrooms. 
James D. Doty of Green Bay was nominated by 
a Democratic meeting in June. Not long after, 
Morgan L. Martin of the same city accepted a 
call from the citizens of Brown County to be- 
come a Democratic candidate for the same office. 
William Woodbridge of Detroit was nominated 
by a small number of citizens east of the lake 
who contended that the organization of a State 
government was as yet of no effect and that they 
were still a part of the Territory of Michigan. 
The candidacy of David Irvin was also an- 
nounced. At Mineral Point, meanwhile, as early 
as the 23d of May, a meeting of citizens of Iowa 
County, which included the principal lead min- 
ing settlements, placed in nomination George 
W. Jones. This nomination was subsequently 
ratified by a large meeting in Dubuque.^^ The 
meeting which nominated Jones made no pro- 
fessions of partisanship, and their candidate 
entered the field without strict party label. The 
outcome of this many sided contest was the 
election of George W. Jones. 



II 

Teekitokial Office 

When the first session of tlie Twenty-fourth 
Congress convened early in December, 1835, 
George W. Jones was on hand and took his seat 
as Delegate from the Territory of Michigan 
without question or contest.^ ^ He found quar- 
ters at the boarding house of Mrs. Pittman on 
Third Street, where he came into close relations 
with Lucius Lyon, United States Senator from 
the organized, but not yet formally recognized, 
State of Michigan.^2 

In the meantime the Territory of Michigan 
had been having vexatious times trying to con- 
duct its affairs at home. When the State gov- 
ernment was organized and Stevens T. Mason 
chosen as Governor, the President appointed 
John S. Horner Secretary of the Territory of 
Michigan and ex officio Acting Governor. The 
peculiar situation of affairs demanded a man of 
tact, good judgment, and initiative. Horner 
was woefully lacking in all these essentials; 
while good intentions and a vacillating mind 
only prepared him to play the role of a political 
blunderer. 

By proclamation of Acting Governor Mason 

14 



TERRITORIAL OFFICE 15 

the next legislature of the Territory had been 
scheduled to meet at Green Bay on January 1, 
1836. The Acting Governor, however, by a 
proclamation issued November 9th, changed the 
date of convening to December 1, 1835. With 
the methods of communication then in vogue the 
members very naturally failed to receive notice 
in time to attend. Not a member appeared upon 
the day appointed; nor was Secretary Horner 
himself there. A communication, dated at De- 
troit, December 14tli, and seeming to be author- 
ized by Horner, appeared in a Green Bay news- 
paper. It explained that no returns from west 
of the lake had as yet been received at Detroit 
and that upon a vote of 730 in the Peninsula, as 
the country east of the lake was called, William 
Woodbridge had claimed a certificate of elec- 
tion as Delegate. This Horner had refused and 
was awaiting the unaccountably delayed returns 
which he knew would give Jones the election. It 
was therefore necessary for him to remain at 
Detroit to insure the certification of Jones at the 
earliest possible moment, deeming the represen- 
tation in Congress of far greater importance 
than a session of the Territorial legislature.-^ 
A letter from Lucius Lyon to Horner discloses 
the fact that the latter had written to Lyon in 
dire distress to know what he should do — go to 
Green Bay where the legislature was to meet or 
stay at Detroit where the laws of Congress re- 



16 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

quired him to make his residence. He was fear- 
ful because friends had written him that the 
President would expect him to remain in De- 
troit. Lyon consulted the President and told 
Horner of Jackson's reply that ''Whoever 
wrote so wrote a falsehood" and that Horner 
was to use his own discretion.^^ Considering 
Horner's utter deficiency in the quality of dis- 
cretion, this injunction was of little value. Late 
in December he received returns which war- 
ranted issuing a certificate of election to Jones 
and on December 31, 1835, Henry H. Brown 
wrote to Jones, enclosing the certificate and 
stating that Horner had been sick for several 
days and unable to attend to his duties.^^ 

On the next day, New Year's Day, over at 
Green Bay the Territorial legislature of Michi- 
gan actually met. Horner, being sick, was of 
course not there. The members were furious. 
Unable to take action without him, further than 
to adopt resolutions and memorials, the Council 
sat for two weeks and then adjourned. Among 
their resolutions was one including an arraign- 
ment of Horner and a request that President 
Jackson remove the offending Secretary from 
office.^^ Four days after this resolution was 
passed, Horner wrote from Detroit to Jones: 
*'I am very lonesome & news hungry and should 
be obliged to you if you would inform me of 
what is going on. Will Michigan be admitted 



TERRITORIAL OFFICE 17 

this winter? Is it necessary in your opinion for 
me to convene the Council at Green Bay this 
winter or spring? "^"^ Jackson did not remove 
Horner, who floated about inconsequentially 
among political offices for some years. 

Another resolution was adopted by the Coun- 
cil in January, 1836, which was of real import. 
It was one urging upon Congress the passage of 
a law establishing the Territory of Wisconsin 
and expressing the wish that Cassville on the 
bank of the Mississippi be made the seat of gov- 
ernment.^^ The passage of a bill establishing 
the Territory of Wisconsin was an accomplish- 
ment toward which Jones was bending every ef- 
fort ; and in accordance with the expressed wish 
of his constituents he agreed to have inserted in 
the bill a clause fixing the seat of government 
at Cassville.^^ But this place proved to be an 
unpopular choice, and so Jones was the recipient 
of letters and remonstrances from all over the 
proposed Territory. Indeed, so strong a case 
was made against Cassville that Jones — mind- 
ful, as well, of his election pledge that the peo- 
ple should have a voice in the location as far as 
he could aid them — decided not to move an 
amendment to the bill but to leave the location 
to the will of the people or their representatives 
after organization had been effected.^^ 

The resolution of the Council looking toward 
the establishment of a new Territory was pre- 



18 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

sented in Congress by Jones on the 7th of Jan- 
uary,^ ^ and two weeks later John M. Clayton of 
Delaware introduced a bill in the Senate pro- 
viding for the establishment of the Territory of 
Wisconsin.^2 Although Michigan had not yet 
been admitted as a State, a cle facto State gov- 
ernment was in operation, and consequently 
Congress was not disposed to resist the creation 
of a government adequate to the needs of the 
people west of the lake. On March 29, 1836, the 
bill passed the Senate. In the House of Repre- 
sentatives it appears that Jones set himself to 
the task of bringing about early action. He com- 
mented on the long neglect of the frontier 
country and urged the immediate necessity of 
bringing it within the pale of judicial tribunals 
and of placing it under the charge of a Governor 
who could organize the militia and protect the in- 
habitants from the horrors of Indian warfare.^^ 
Several minor amendments were made and 
agreed to by the Senate. Finally, on April 20, 
1836, three weeks after the bill had been intro- 
duced in the House, it received the approval of 
the President and became a law. 

In those days the Delegate from a Territory 
was half Congressman and half lobbyist. He 
had the privilege of presenting legislation and 
of debating questions, but he had no vote. Much 
had to be accomplished by personal influence. 
Jones was resourceful and persistent, pleasing 



TERRITORIAL OFFICE 19 

and persuasive in his personality, and able in 
his presentation of the needs of his constituents. 
The resolutions, petitions, and memorials pre- 
sented to the House by Jones show clearly what 
these needs were. Post roads and military 
roads must be opened up, rivers and harbors 
needed improvement, Indian treaties were neces- 
sary for the protection of the citizens, and lands 
must be surveyed and sold. In the furthering 
of all these objects Jones was very active. 

Altogether the service of George W. Jones 
as Delegate from the Territory of Michigan was 
as efficacious as it was satisfactory to his con- 
stituents. He had represented them faithfully 
and had secured for them the one thing most 
desired — an adequate form of Territorial gov- 
ernment. The Territory of Wisconsin came into 
political being on July 4, 1836, and while Jones 
was still at Washington the new officers were 
named. He had the pleasure of influencing 
Jackson to appoint Henry Dodge as Grovernor, 
much to the satisfaction of the citizens of Wis- 
consin. He gives an entertaining account, in his 
autobiography, of the part he played in Dodge's 
appointment and in the nomination of other of- 
ficers for the Territory.^^ 

With the change in government it was in- 
cumbent upon the people of the new Territory 
to choose a Delegate to represent them in Con- 
gress, despite the fact that Jones had served 



20 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

but one of his two years as Delegate from the 
Territory of Michigan. In September, 1836, a 
meeting at Belmont in Iowa County expressed 
approval of the record of Jones and placed him 
in nomination for the new office of Delegate. 
But at this time there were two towns in Iowa 
County which were fighting for supremacy — 
Belmont and Mineral Point. Each town aspired 
to be named as the seat of government of the 
Territory of "Wisconsin, and the feeling between 
the towns was intensified by the f oreshadowings 
of a division of the county and the ensuing loca- 
tion of county seats. And so, a short time after 
the meeting at Belmont, a rival meeting was 
held at Mineral Point. The adherents of this 
town, charging Jones with being interested in 
the selection of Belmont as the Territorial cap- 
ital, proceeded to announce as their candidate 
for Delegate, Moses Meeker, an early settler in 
the lead mining regions. It appears also that 
at these two meetings separate sets of nomina- 
tions were made for the ^eats in the first 
Legislative Assembly.^^ Tlie outcome of the 
election of Delegate was a sweeping victory for 
Jones by a vote of 3,522 to 696, although in his 
own county. Meeker defeated him by a vote of 
617 to 612. Thus, outside of Iowa County the 
election of Jones was nearly unanimous. 

Late in October the first Territorial legisla- 
ture met at Belmont. Exciting times followed 



TERRITORIAL OFFICE 21 

in the struggle to locate the seat of government 
of the Territory, which was largely a matter of 
speculation and a contest between private inter- 
ests. Nearly a score of places were discussed, 
many of them being simply tracts of unim- 
proved prairie laid out in town plats and 
endowed with great possibilities by their hope- 
ful and enthusiastic owners. 

Among these towns without houses or inhab- 
itants was Madison; and it appears that 
James Duane Doty, the defeated candidate for 
Delegate in 1835, was the man most largely 
interested in this town between the lakes. As 
early as June, 1836, he wrote to Delegate Jones 
that he and Governor Stevens T. Mason had 
secured the title to the land, ''for the object 
which I mentioned to you";^*^ and he outlined 
the plan upon which he intended to proceed. 
It was to vest the title in trustees for the benefit 
of the stockholders of a company. He had in 
mind a select list of men to whom stock would 
be sold — among them being George W. Jones, 
Henry Dodge or his son Augustus C. Dodge, 
William S. Hamilton, Thomas P. Burnett, and 
Morgan L. Martin. He wished Jones to be one 
of the trustees, and commented: "I think it is 
obvious we can make something handsome out 
of this ".3" 

It seems probable that Jones did not accept 
the trusteeship although he did agree to be- 



22 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

come one of the proprietors. On the day before 
Christmas, 1836, after the legislature had cho- 
sen Madison as the seat of government, Doty 
wrote again to Jones: '* Agreeably to your re- 
quest I subscribed your name to the Articles of 
Association of the Proprietors of that town 
[Madison] for one share which is l-24th and I 
rec'd thro' Mr. A. C. Dodge (who is also a pro- 
prietor) the amt. due to wit $100."^^ 

Doty was very busy at Belmont when the 
legislature was in session, and his efforts were 
successful. But the choice of Madison was not 
altogether popular in the Territory, and there 
were many accusations to the effect that lots in 
the new town and other considerations had been 
freely distributed in order to accomplish the 
result desired. How much the joint proprietors 
knew of the tactics employed by the manager 
of the speculation is conjectural. Their part in 
the proceeds, however, can be judged by a letter 
from Doty in February, 1837, telling Jones that 
'Hhe dividend on the 1st of Jany on amt. of 
sales to that time was $170 per share. "^'^ 

There was excellent opportunity to make 
money in land speculations in this pioneer coun- 
try, and it is evident that Jones was fully alive 
to the situation. He had been a resident of the 
frontier all his life and he knew western land 
conditions intimately. In 1836 he and Daniel 
Webster together began a series of land negoti- 



TERRITORIAL OFFICE 23 

ations that extended through several years. 
Jones made the selections of property and in- 
vested Webster's as well as his own funds. 
Their deals were for the most part profitable, 
and as a consequence Jones at one time acquired 
a considerable amount of property. 

At the opening of the session of 1836-1837 
Jones took his seat in Congress as Delegate 
from the Territory of Wisconsin. It was a 
short session and was not a momentous one for 
Delegate Jones. But the long session of the 
winter following was one he never forgot. Two 
events of this session brought him prestige and 
great popularity among his constituents. A 
third event made him a national figure but sent 
him back to private life at the next Territorial 
election. He had been enthused by John 
Plumbe, Jr., in the project of a railroad from 
Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River and be- 
yond, and he achieved a genuine triumph when 
he secured, in 1838, an appropriation of $2,000 
for the survey of a route for a railroad from 
Milwaukee to the Mississippi River at Du- 
buque.^° Far more widespread, however, was 
the appreciation of his success in bringing 
about the division of Wisconsin Territory and 
the establishment of the Territory of Iowa. 

The Territory of Wisconsin contained, in 
1838, approximately fifty thousand souls. Over 
half of this number were on the far side of the 



24 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Mississippi Eiver. These Trans-Mississippi in- 
habitants, moreover, made it very clear to Jones 
that they were in favor of the establishment of 
a new Territory; and Jones energetically set 
about bringing this result to pass. He was not 
an orator, and throughout his entire Congres- 
sional career he relied very little upon speeches 
to further his legislation. He depended upon 
personal influence in securing attention to his 
bills, and upon unflagging zeal and tactical skill 
in pushing them through the intermediary 
stages to a final favorable vote. 

The bill providing for the establishment of 
the Territory of Iowa encountered strong op- 
position. One member wished to wait until 
Wisconsin became a State ;^^ another attacked 
the character of the ^ * squatters upon public do- 
main"; while still others complained that it 
would drain the older States of population, 
that it would encourage speculation, and that 
it would jeopardize the balance between free 
and slave States.^^ Despite these objections the 
bill came to a favorable vote in both houses, 
and was signed by the President on June 12, 
1838. 

Meanwhile, on an afternoon in February, out 
near the boundary line of the District of Co- 
lumbia, four members of the lower house of 
Congress were engaging in a function which 
was far from legislative. As a result of a chal- 



TERRITORIAL OFFICE 25 

lenge for the satisfaction of honor, Mr. Graves 
of Kentucky and Mr. Cilley of Maine, stood 
some eighty yards apart and fired upon each 
other with rifles. The third exchange of shots 
was fatal to Cilley who died in the arms of his 
second, George W. Jones. Henry A. Wise of 
Virginia was the second of Mr. Graves. Jones 
had been drawn into the affair against his bet- 
ter judgment and with more or less of a realiza- 
tion of the evils, political and otherwise, 
which it would bring down upon him. His 
main objection seems to have been that it would 
definitely ally him with the Democratic party; 
whereas he preferred to steer a neutral course, 
thinking he could in that way procure more 
legislation for his constituents.^'^ It is not prob- 
able that Jones had any very strong principles 
at this time against the practice of duelling. 
He had spent his entire life in regions where 
the resort to personal encounter was of fre- 
quent occurrence, and by one writer he is 
credited with having been himself a party to 
seven affairs of honor .^* 

The death of Cilley created a profound sen- 
sation in the country. Petitions poured into the 
House asking for the expulsion of Mr. Graves 
and of the two seconds. Wise and Jones. The 
House appointed an investigating committee 
which brought in a report recommending the 
expulsion of Graves and the censure of the 



26 GEOKGE WALLACE JONES 

other participants in the affair.^ ^ After much 
discussion the session closed without definite 
action being taken upon the report. In the Sen- 
ate a bill was passed prohibiting the giving or 
accepting, within the District of Columbia, of a 
challenge to a duel; but this bill did not pass 
the House. 

In anticipation of the passage of the law 
establishing the new Territory of Iowa, specu- 
lation became rife as to the appointment of 
Governor. As early as April 20, 1838, a 
meeting of citizens of Dubuque formally recom- 
mended George W. Jones for the position. 
Numerous petitions to the same effect were sent 
to Washington from west of the river, and at 
the national seat of government a petition 
signed by members of the United States Senate 
and one by the colleagues of Jones in the lower 
house prayed for his appointment. Lewis F. 
Linn, James Buchanan, and others also wrote 
to President Van Buren for the same purpose."*^ 
Jones, however, definitely announced himself as 
a candidate for reelection to the Delegacy of 
the Territory of Wisconsin; and early in July 
Eobert Lucas was appointed to the Governor- 
ship of the new Territory of Iowa. 

Congress having adjourned in July, Jones re- 
turned to Wisconsin and began a vigorous 
campaign. The opposing candidates for Dele- 
gate were James D. Doty (who had written 



TERRITORIAL OFFICE 27 

Jones six months before that he was off the 
political stage and meant to stay off)^^ and 
Thomas P. Burnett. In the eastern part of the 
Territory of Wisconsin, which was peopled 
largely by settlers from New England and the 
eastern States, the connection of Jones with the 
duel lost him many votes. These votes went 
largely to Doty. In the western part of the 
Territory, the presence of Burnett as a candi- 
date cut down the Jones vote sufficiently to elect 
Doty. Burnett received less than one thousand 
votes in all, but they were votes which would 
probably otherwise have been cast for Jones 
rather than for Doty.^^ Thus at the polls in 
September, 1838, James D. Doty was elected to 
succeed Jones. 

It must have been no small disappointment to 
George W. Jones to have thus slipped through 
between the two offices. Two months later 
Congress convened. Practically all of his col- 
leagues in the House were there, for it was the 
last session of the Congress. And much to the 
discomfiture of James D. Doty, Jones went 
down to Washington and took his seat once 
more as Delegate from Wisconsin. He had, to 
be sure, served for two regular sessions since his 
election in 1836 as Delegate from the Territory 
of Wisconsin. But he based his reappearance 
at this session on the contention that he had 
been elected for a Congress rather than for two 



28 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

sessions. Furthermore, he had been elected in 
1835 for a term of two years as Delegate from 
the Territory of Michigan. This term of office 
naturally extended over the Twenty-fourth 
Congress (1835-1837). The Territory of Wis- 
consin having been established at the end of one 
year, a new election was necessary, in which 
Jones was chosen Delegate for the new Terri- 
tory. He now claimed that the incumbency 
under this last election did not begin until 
March 4, 1837, and that his occupancy of a seat 
in the session of 1836-1837 was in accordance 
with his election of 1835 as Delegate from the 
Territory of Michigan and in fulfillment of the 
second year of service under such election. The 
fact that the Territory of "Wisconsin had been 
established did not, he claimed, foreclose the 
existence of the Territory of Michigan, which 
survived until the State of Michigan was ad- 
mitted by Congress. 

Jones secured the opinion of attorneys upon 
the case along the lines thus indicated.^^ In 
their opinion, however, the admission of the 
State of Michigan in January, 1837, did put an 
end to the existence of the Territory of Michi- 
gan and likewise put an end to the career of 
Jones as Delegate from that Territory. More- 
over, since, under their construction of the case, 
the Delegateship of the Territory of Wisconsin 
did not begin until March 4, 1837, Jones ceased 



TERRITORIAL OFFICE 29 

to be a Delegate from any Territory for a pe- 
riod of several weeks between January and 
March. His term as Delegate from Wisconsin 
beginning, under this hypothesis, on March 4, 
1837, would not close until the end of the 
Twenty-fifth Congress, or on March 4, 1839; 
and he was therefore entitled to his seat for the 
second regular session, while his successor, 
Doty, elected in 1838, would begin service 
March 4, 1839, as did the Eepresentatives from 
all the States, and serve through the 26th Con- 
gress. 

It was an ingenious argument and having as 
its basis a law of Congress providing that Dele- 
gates from all Territories should serve for "the 
same term of two years for which members of 
the house of representatives of the United 
States are elected", the claim had sufficient 
basis for a lawyer's discussion.^*^ 

There were, however, inherent weaknesses in 
the case. In the first place, following his 
course of reasoning, the Territory of Wisconsin, 
though established and in full operation under 
the laws of the United States, would yet be de- 
prived of a Delegate in the session of Congress 
ending March 4, 1837. Furthermore, if Jones 
accepted the position of his own lawyers he must 
admit himself to have held an office illegally 
between January 26, 1837, and March 4, 1837, 
and logically should refund pay for that time. 



30 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

And lastly, the force of his contention was 
sadly weakened by the fact that in December, 
1836, he presented the certificate of election 
given him by Governor Dodge of the Territory 
of Wisconsin, took Ms seat as Delegate from 
the Territory of Wisconsin and acted as such 
throughout the session with no pretence what- 
ever of serving the vague and anomalous 
remnant east of the lake laying claim to the title 
of Territory of Michigan. 

Scarcely had the members of the House set- 
tled down after the opening roll call when Isaac 
Crary of Michigan announced that Mr. Doty 
was in attendance and moved that he be quali- 
fied. Whereupon Jones protested against 
Doty's being given a seat in violation of his 
own right as sitting member, no vacancy having 
occurred and he having never resigned. Mr. 
Doty's certificate was read and the considera- 
tion of the question then postponed. The 
matter went to the Committee on Elections, 
from which James Buchanan reported on De- 
cember 21st in favor of Doty's claim to the 
seat.^^ On January 3, 1839, the House passed, 
by a vote of 165 to 25, the resolutions proposed 
by the committee in favor of Doty's right to the 
seat. 

Meanwhile Jones had been performing the 
duties of the Delegate, presenting petitions and 
resolutions and furthering legislation of benefit 



TERRITORIAL OFFICE 31 

to the Territory of Wisconsin. And on the 
20th of December he received a check for his 
mileage and pay up to that date. After the vote 
of the house in favor of Doty, Joshua R. Gid- 
dings of Ohio served notice upon Jones by 
letter that a resolution would be presented 
denying him the right to this payment. There- 
upon Jones returned uncashed to the Speaker 
of the House the original check, pending the 
decision upon his right to receive it. On Jan- 
uary 5th, a resolution was introduced declaring 
Jones not entitled to receive mileage and pay. 
After provoking a long debate, in which Jones 
was ably defended, the resolution was nega- 
tived by a vote of 89 to 96.^^ gQ j^g ^^s granted 
his compensation and gave up his seat, after a 
month of service, to Delegate Doty. 

Jones now returned to Sinsinawa Mound and 
busied himself with private interests. He 
owned at this time considerable land directly 
opposite Dubuque, and also a ferry plying be- 
tween this land and Dubuque with ferry 
privileges only on the east side.^* In the ses- 
sion of 1839-1840 he was granted by the 
Legislative Assemblj'^ of the Territory of Iowa 
the right to establish a ferry on the Dubuque 
side also.^* 

In January, 1840, Jones was appointed 
Surveyor General for the land district of Iowa 
and Wisconsin. His term of office was for four 



32 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

years, beginning April 1, 1840.^^ On March 
16tli he leased the ferry for a year to Thomas 
McCraney and took up his new duties.^^ His 
long acquaintance with the western frontier and 
with land conditions in this region fitted him 
admirably for this work. But his tenure of 
office was short. William Henry Harrison be- 
came President in March, 1841, and Jones as a 
Democrat was removed. The office of Surveyor 
General was located at Dubuque and it is prob- 
able that during this short time Jones lived in 
that city, though he may not have moved his 
home and family across the river from Sinsin- 
awa Mound. At all events he became more 
closely than ever in touch with the people of 
Dubuque, with whom for nearly half a century 
he was to live. 

With the passing of the political office Jones 
appears to have gone back to smelting opera- 
tions at Sinsinawa Mound. During the winter 
of 1842-1843, he visited Washington at the re- 
quest of the citizens of Dubuque to protest 
against the removal of the land office from that 
town. It was a mission well suited to his abili- 
ties. Being a shrewd lobbyist and having many 
friends he was successful in securing the con- 
tinuance of the Dubuque office.^'^ 

Jones was a loyal friend, and it appears that 
the men whom he befriended often found oc- 
casion to return his favors. Judge Dunn of the 



TERRITORIAL OFFICE 33 

Supreme Court of the Territory of Wisconsin, 
who had secured his seat upon the nomination 
of Jones, offered him in 1843 the position of 
Clerk of the Supreme Court."^^ Jones was glad 
to accept this position, and with little delay he 
left his early home at Sinsinawa Mound and 
moved with his family to Mineral Point. But it 
was only in the period of political adversity 
that he thus occupied himself. In the fall of 
1844 James K. Polk was elected President of 
the United States, and the Democrats of the 
nation again came into sunshiny days. The 
election was celebrated at Mineral Point with a 
great procession, speeches, and festivities — 
marshalled, we are told, by George W. Jones.^* 
"When the new President took office he gave 
back to Jones the position he had lost four 
years before — that of Surveyor General, 
Thereupon Jones moved his household goods 
for the last time, took up his abode in Dubuque, 
and became definitely and finally a citizen of 
Iowa. At the outbreak of the Mexican War he 
offered his services to Governor Clarke, but 
they were not needed.'^'" For nearly four years 
he negotiated the affairs of the Surveyor Gen- 
eral's Office at Dubuque, letting contracts for 
surveying and becoming more and more a part 
of the political life of the Commonwealth as it 
passed from its Territorial dependence into the 
freedom and responsibility of Statehood. 



34 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Upon the admission of Iowa into the Union 
in 1846, the legislators of the new State eagerly- 
bestirred themselves to choose United States 
Senators. And for two long years they strug- 
gled in vain to come to an agreement. The 
story of these years of bickerings and bribery, 
of fickle reversals of tactics and constant dis- 
regard of the public interest has been often and 
ably told.®^ It was not until the last chapter of 
the story that Jones became a candidate. 
Throughout the sessions of 1846 and 1847 
Augustus Caesar Dodge of Burlington and 
Thomas S. Wilson of Dubuque were the men 
most prominently named by the Democrats. In 
the election of members of the legislature in 
1848 the Democratic party secured at last an 
easy majority in both houses and an election of 
two Democrats was assured. 

In the fall of 1848 Jones definitely became a 
candidate for the Senate, influenced to this step 
largely by the knowledge that the election of 
Zachary Taylor as a Whig President of the 
United States would mean his removal from the 
office of Surveyor General. In a short, bitter 
contest, that engendered a long political feud 
between the two fellow townsmen, Jones sup- 
planted Thomas S. Wilson in the position of 
favor; and in the caucus of Democrats on De- 
cember 5, 1848, was placed in nomination along 
with his stanch friend, Augustus Caesar Dodge. 



TERRITORIAL OFFICE 35 

Since nomination was tantamount to election 
the occasion seemed, of a certain, one for hilar- 
ious celebration. Jones, being ever a jovial 
spirit, came forth with an impulsive invitation 
to every one to repair to a place of refresh- 
ment; and the jubilee that followed, amid the 
rapid disappearance of oysters and liquors, was 
one that cost Jones and the somewhat unen- 
thusiastic Dodge a lively bill of over four 
hundred dollars. 

On the seventh of December, 1848, the Gen- 
eral Assembly in joint session chose Dodge and 
Jones as the first United States Senators from 
Iowa; and before the month was out they had 
reached Washington and presented their cer- 
tificates. In the assignment of terms Jones 
drew the long term, allowing him service until 
March 4, 1853. 



Ill 

United States Senator 

A tall, erect figure fastidiously dressed, with 
an abundance of tightly curling black hair, an 
engaging smile, and the manners of a Lord 
Chesterfield — such was George W. Jones when 
he appeared at Washington as Senator from 
Iowa. He was a Democrat in politics and a 
Southerner in instincts. Ten years had elapsed 
since he had left Congress, yet he found many 
friends at the time of his reappearance. Henry 
Dodge of Wisconsin, Benton and Atchison of 
Missouri, Daniel Webster, and Jefferson Davis, 
all of these old friends were now members of 
the Senate. Jones and his colleague were 
belated in their arrival. On the day after 
Christmas their credentials were presented and 
they at once undertook to make up for the time 
their State had lost. 

One subject near to the heart of Jones and 
his constituents was that of railroads, and it 
was less than ten days before he introduced a 
bill granting to the State of Iowa land for the 
purpose of aiding in the construction of a rail- 
road from Dubuque to Keokuk.*'- It was the 
beginning of a long and persistent fight which 

36 



UNITED STATES SENATOR 37 

he and his colleague, Senator Dodge, waged in 
behalf of a railroad grant for the State they 
represented. The bill did not pass the Senate ; 
and so on the same day of the following year, 
January 3, 1850, Jones introduced a similar 
measure for a Dubuque and Keokuk railroad 
grant. When reported back from the Com- 
mittee on Public Lands it was joined with 
another bill, introduced by Dodge, proposing a 
grant of land for a railroad from Davenport to 
the Missouri Eiver. On this combined bill there 
occurred on June 18, 1850, a brief debate led by 
Senator Jones who was ably assisted by A. C. 
Dodge.*^" On the day following the bill passed 
the Senate,*^^ but making no headway in the 
House it failed of passage. 

While not always successful, it was in further- 
ing legislation on behalf of public improvements 
that Jones now proved, as he had proved in the 
days of his Delegacy, of most value to his con- 
stituents. His tact and personal address won 
him many votes on bills that would otherwise 
have been lost in the bottomless pit of indiffer- 
ence. In 1849 he was made chairman of the 
Committee on Pensions and in this post he was 
continued throughout his service as Senator. 
He was, during one Congress, chairman of the 
Committee on Engrossed Bills, and for the re- 
mainder of his Senatorship he was at the head 
of the Committee on Enrolled Bills. 



38 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

In the session of 1849 to 1850 Jones secured a 
modification of another raikoad bill which was 
of much import to his State and particularly to 
the town of Dubuque. The Illinois delegation 
had been pushing with great vigor and success 
a bill granting lands for the construction of the 
Illinois Central Eailroad. By the terms of the 
bill, one branch of this road was to be built 
westward as far as Galena, connecting that 
town with Chicago. When the bill was before 
the Senate, Jones proposed an amendment by 
which the road was extended "via Galena, Illi- 
nois, to Dubuque, lowa".**^ He explained that 
this change would increase the distance only 
some twelve or fifteen miles and would place the 
western terminus on the Mississippi Eiver in- 
stead of at an inland town. Jones secured the 
assent of Senators Douglas and Shields to the 
amendment before presenting it, and with this 
modification the bill passed. Great was the re- 
joicing of Dubuque over securing the terminus, 
and correspondingly great was the increase in 
the popularity of Jones. But on the other side 
of the river, Galena found her hopes for the 
development of a great commercial center in 
danger of eclipse; and out of the negotiation 
there grew in later years a bitter controversy 
between Jones and Stephen A. Douglas. 

The most important legislation of a national 
character during the first term of service of 



UNITED STATES SENATOR 39 

Senator Jones was without doubt the series of 
compromise measures of 1850. These laws con- 
stitute a determined effort to put a quietus to 
the discussion of slavery in the harassed 
country. On July 15, 1850, George W. Jones 
presented resolutions from two Democratic con- 
ventions which had been held in the State of 
Iowa during the preceding month.^® These 
resolutions took strong ground in favor of the 
compromise measures, and Jones in presenting 
them took occasion to make some remarks in re- 
gard to his own attitude and that of his State. 
The legislature which had elected him and his 
colleague had refused emphatically, he said, to 
instruct them to vote for the Wilmot Proviso. 
The resolutions which he presented bespoke the 
present attitude of the Democratic party. And 
as for the Whigs, he would not do them the 
injustice of supposing that any respectable por- 
tion of them were opposed to the spirit of the 
resolutions and an early pacification of the 
councils of the national legislature by the com- 
promise bill of the Committee of Thirteen or 
some kindred measures. In a very large cor- 
respondence, he had not received from his 
constituents and friends one letter taking 
ground against the compromise bill. As firmly 
devoted as he was to the tenets of the Demo- 
cratic party and as widely different as were 
those tenets from the principles of the party of 



40 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

which Clay was the founder and head, yet he 
would unite with him in any measure which had 
for its object the perpetuity of the Union. 

His own attitude he frankly expressed as 
follows : 

A native of a free State, (Indiana,) and raised part- 
ly in slave States, I have, if I know myself, no 
prejudices or animosities to indulge in relation to the 
delicate subject of slavery. I am now, as I have ever 
been, opposed to it ; by which I mean that in any State 
or Territory where that question is to be decided, were 
I a resident, no man would be more decided in his 
opposition to its establishment than I would be. My 
opinions, my observations, and my feelings are against 
it ; but under no circumstances will I consent to inter- 
fere with it where the Constitution and laws of my 
country have placed it. More than that: I will not 
vote for insulting enactments, nor lend myself to 
harass or excite the fears of those amongst whom it 
exists. Would to God that this Congress could so 
elevate itself above the passions and prejudices of the 
day as forever to give the quietus to this distracting 
question! Sir, I believe the bill now before us will 
effect that object; and so believing, I shall record my 
vote for it with unmixed pleasure.®^ 

When the compromise bills came up for final 
action in the Senate in August and September 
the vote of Senator Jones is recorded in their 
favor in each case except the bill to establish 
the Territories of Utah and New Mexico.*'^ On 
this question his name does not appear, nor is it 



UNITED STATES SENATOR 41 

to be found on the only other vote recorded that 
day.*^^ It is probable that he was unavoidably 
absent, as he would have, without any manner 
of doubt, voted for all the measures had he been 
present. 

There is probably no question but that Sena- 
tors Jones and Dodge represented the majority 
of their constituents in their action in 1850. 
The General Assembly of the State, in January, 
1851, passed resolutions expressing condemna- 
tion of Seward's avowal of a law higher than 
the Constitution and emphasizing the duty of 
every good citizen to conform to and carry out 
in good faith the provisions of the compromise 
measures.'^'^ Nevertheless the decade which fol- 
lowed wrought a very material change in the 
public sentiment of the people of Iowa on the 
question of slavery — a change which both 
Jones and Dodge failed to recognize or heed. 

The Senators from Iowa had made no effort 
to push their land bill in the short session of 
the Thirty-first Congress; but on the second 
day of the following session, December 2, 1851, 
Jones introduced in the Senate practically the 
same bill which had passed that body two 
years before — a bill granting land to Iowa in 
aid of the construction of a railroad from Du- 
buque to Keokuk and one from Davenport to 
the Missouri River. Again the efforts of Sena- 
tors Jones and Dodge were put forth with the 



42 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

utmost zeal and skill ; again the Iowa Land Bill 
passed the Senate; and again it failed in the 
House of Representatives J ^ 

When the bill had been reported from the 
Committee on Public Lands, of which Senator 
Dodge was a member, and was under discussion 
before the Senate, an amendment was intro- 
duced by Seward of New York which provided 
that the proposed railroad system instead of 
consisting of a line from Dubuque to Keokuk 
and one from Davenport to Council Bluffs, 
should consist of one line from Davenport to 
Council Bluffs with two branches from Fort Des 
Moines running eastward to Dubuque and Bur- 
lington.^- Both Dodge and Jones made strenu- 
ous objections and the amendment was not 
passed. Jones stated that for three sessions of 
Congress the State of Iowa had memorialized 
Congress for a grant of land for a railroad 
from Dubuque to Keokuk and from Davenport 
to the Missouri River. It would be entirely 
competent for the State legislature and the 
railroad companies to make the line as pro- 
posed by Senator Seward, if they deemed it 
advisable ; but it should be left to the State and 
not Congress to designate the routes. This 
amendment would of course cut off Keokuk 
from connection with the road and to this Jones 
objected, particularly since one of the objects 
had been to get past the rapids in the Missis- 



UNITED STATES SENATOR 43 

sippi which were situated between Burlington 
and Keokuk. He added that if the bill were left 
as it was, with an additional provision for a 
grant of land to aid in the construction of a 
railroad from Fort Des Moines to Burlington, 
he would certainly not object, since the legisla- 
ture of Iowa at its last session had memorialized 
Congress for a grant of land to aid in such ad- 
ditional roadJ^ 

In the lower house perhaps the strongest 
speech against the bill was made by Thompson 
Campbell of Illinois. His home was at Galena 
and though both of the Iowa Senators had given 
their zealous aid to the Illinois Land Bill, it was 
evident that the amendment to that bill carrying 
the terminus on to Dubuque rankled deeply in 
his soul. In the course of his remarks he in- 
timated that the support of the Iowa Senators 
was secured only by allowing them to make 
Dubuque the terminiis, and that the Illinois 
delegation was obliged to submit rather than 
have the bill defeated. 

In response to a protest from Bernhart Henn, 
a Representative from Iowa, Campbell per- 
sisted that he had understood from honorable 
men that the extended terminus was so insisted 
upon."^^ Jones, filled with indignation, pro- 
ceeded to investigate matters. Campbell named 
Stephen A. Douglas as the source of his under- 
standing of facts. Accordingly Jones repaired 



44 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

at once to Douglas and with hot words reminded 
him that neither he nor his colleague Senator 
Shields had made the slightest objection to the 
Jones amendment. The dispute was smothered 
temporarily, but flamed up in later years with 
still greater intensityJ^ 

The term for which Jones had been elected 
was to expire March 4, 1853, and in the fall of 
1852 the political pot was being stirred in the 
State of Iowa. The Whigs in the General As- 
sembly were greatly in the minority, so that the 
contest focused itself upon a choice between 
Democrats. The opposition to Jones was 
strong and bitter. The most tangible objection 
from a political standpoint that was brought 
against him, was a charge of partiality toward 
certain parts of the State. This was most pro- 
nounced in Des Moines County because of the 
failure of Jones to include, in the Iowa Land 
Bill of 1851-1852, provision for aid in the con- 
struction of a third railroad running from 
Burlington to Fort Des Moines.'^ "^ 

Personal enmities also appear to have entered 
into the contest. Unpleasant relations between 
Jones and James M. Morgan, editor of the 
Burlington Daily Telegraph, partly account for 
the vindictiveness with which the latter paper 
attacked him. In his own town of Dubuque a 
clique, of which D. A. Mahoney seems to have 
been the leader, had started the Dubuque Her- 



UNITED STATES SENATOR 45 

aid for the purpose, it was said, of fighting 
Jones. The friends of Jones prepared and pub- 
lished a pamphlet which, under the caption of 
''Life and Services of Hon. George Wallace 
Jones", received the following comment from 
the Burlington Daily Telegraph: 

The above addition to modern literature, we learn 
from the Dii Buque Herald, has at length met with 
what Jones would call a "safe deliverance" from the 
press, and is said to comprise some 40 pages ! This is 
certainly an awful dose to be forced upon a rebellious 
palate, and our bowels of compassion instinctively 
yearn for those unhappy wights, the members of the 
legislature, who, in addition to the code, and a thou- 
sand and one other troubles, are now called upon to 
wade through 40 mortal pages to find out who killed 
Cock Robin!" 

The issues of this newspaper for the month 
of December devote columns of type to the most 
harsh arraignments of the character and abili- 
ties of Jones; while many other papers in 
the State were scarcely less strong in their in- 
vectives. Among the other candidates for 
nomination were Stephen Hempstead and 
Thomas S. Wilson from Dubuque, E. W. 
Johnson, James Grant, Joseph Williams, and 
Verplanck Van Antwerp. 

At the opening of the session of the General 
Assembly the contest was in full swing. Con- 
gress convened on the same day, December 6, 



46 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

1852, but Jones did not depart for Washington. 
He stayed to see the fight through to the finish 
— an unwise move for it brought upon him 
pointed charges of the sacrifice of Congres- 
sional duties for the personal demands of office 
seeking. 

For some time the Democrats dallied and 
avoided a caucus. But on December 20th a 
caucus was held. Out of a total of fifty-nine 
votes Jones received thirty. This majority of 
one vote was a slim victory, but it must be re- 
membered that the opposing twenty-nine were 
divided among ten different candidates. '^^ Upon 
the day following the caucus the vote of the 
General Assembly was cast for Jones on the 
first ballot. Making arrangements for a dinner 
in honor of his election, Jones set off, two weeks 
late, for his duties at Washington, secure in the 
assurance of another six years in the United 
States Senate.'*^ 

For a brief period of time the Compromise of 
1850 stilled the disquiet of the country. But it 
was only an artificial sleep. Jones had ex- 
pressed his belief that these measures would 
settle the slavery question until another ad- 
dition of territory was acquired. He was 
mistaken. The unorganized land west of the 
Missouri was destined to prove as great a bone 
of contention as a new acquisition would have 
been. In December, 1853, Senator Dodge of 



UNITED STATES SENATOR 47 

Iowa introduced a bill which in practically the 
same form had passed the House during the 
preceding session. It provided for the organ- 
ization of Nebraska as a Territory with no 
reference to the question of slavery. The bill 
was referred to the Committee on Territories, 
of which Douglas was the chairman and of 
which Jones was a member. Here it underwent 
a transformation and came out of the commit- 
tee in January a Douglas product. It provided 
for the establishment of the two Territorial 
governments of Kansas and Nebraska and left 
the people to determine for themselves, upon 
their admission to the Union, whether they 
should come in as free or as slave States. A 
further amendment was added which definitely 
repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. 

It was this bill that was to overturn the pacifi- 
cation measures of 1850 and hasten the 
inevitable conflict. Both Senator Jones and 
Senator Dodge favored the measure and cast 
their votes for its final passage. For Senator 
Dodge the vote had momentous results. The 
State of Iowa underwent a marked political 
change in 1854. Opposition to the Kansas- 
Nebraska measure became the breath of life in 
a new organization that rose from the Free Soil 
party and the decadent party of the Whigs. 
This new force elected James W. Grimes Gov- 
ernor of Iowa and in the winter of 1854 to 1855 



48 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

chose James Harlan to succeed Augustus 
Caesar Dodge in the United States Senate. It 
was the beginning of the Eepublican party in 
Iowa, and Jones represented for the rest of 
his term not the majority of his constituents 
but the old line Democracy whose one time 
strength prevented it from now realizing its 
failing influence. 

Jones had never lost sight of the desire of his 
constituents for aid in the construction of rail- 
roads. He had labored session after session to 
secure from Congress a grant of land to the 
State of Iowa for railroad construction. In the 
spring of 1856 he was at last successful. Twice 
he had with the assistance of Dodge brought 
a similar bill to a favorable vote in the Senate 
only to have it fail in the House. Now the 
bill passed the House of Representatives first, 
and on May 8, 1856, was reported to the Sen- 
ate. It no longer provided for a line from 
Dubuque to Keokuk, but proposed four east and 
west routes connecting the Mississippi and Mis- 
souri Rivers and beginning at four points on the 
Mississippi which offered continuous connection 
with the East. These points were Dubuque, 
Lyons, Davenport, and Burlington. Jones fore- 
saw that the bill, if referred to the Committee 
on Public Lands, would encounter at least 
amendments which would necessitate its return 
to the House, and he fought stubbornly against 



UNITED STATES SENATOR 49 

its reference and in favor of immediate action. 
It was an unusual proceeding, but he brought it 
to pass and secured a favorable vote in the Sen- 
ate upon May 9th, the day after the bill had 
been received from the House.^*^ 

The success of a bill granting land after so 
many disappointments brought much joj^ to the 
people of Iowa, and Jones received the well 
merited gratitude of his constituents. This 
gratitude was not universal, however, for Keo- 
kuk did not participate in the benefits of the 
grant and felt more or less sorely grieved.^^ 

The political reversal that met Dodge at the 
hands of the General Assembly of Iowa in 1854- 
1855 only awaited the expiration of a six year 
term of office to overtake Senator Jones. On 
March 4, 1859, his term was to end, and since the 
General Assembly of Iowa met only in biennial 
sessions the election of his successor was slated 
for the session of 1857-1858. 

Jones naturally wished for reelection. And 
if the political sky held signs of gloomy portent 
for the Iowa Democracy, yet he desired at least 
the nomination of the party which he had served 
so many years. So he busied himself with all 
the arts of politics which he knew in the months 
that preceded the meeting of the General As- 
sembly. There was, however, a man in his own 
town who had not forgotten the past. Thomas 
S. Wilson also wished to be Senator and it was 



50 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

not long before the town of Dubuque became a 
scene of unwonted controversy in which men 
arrayed themselves on one side or the other as 
Montagues and Capulets and waged unceasing 
dispute for Jones and for Wilson. It became 
more or less of a personal fight and continued 
long after it had become ludicrous to the rest of 
the State.^^ The Republican party had a very 
evident majority in the legislature and the end 
of Democratic Senatorship was a foregone con- 
clusion. Furthermore, Jones did not have 
behind him the harmonious support of even the 
Democrats. Indeed, as the Kansas imbroglio 
became the all absorbing topic, the lack of unity 
in the Democratic ranks became increasingly 
evident. 

After the Kansas-Nebraska Bill came its 
legitimate sequel. In Kansas was enacted a 
scene of strife and bloodshed in the efforts of 
the slave and free forces to control the making 
of a constitution. And out of that contention 
there came back to Congress in December of 
1857 the Lecompton Constitution. It was an in- 
strument drawn up by a pro-slavery convention 
which dared not give it a fair chance for rati- 
fication by the people of the Territory, because 
it was apparent to all that the Free State men 
were greatly in the majority and would without 
question reject it. A form of submission to the 
people was carefully framed on the principle of 



UNITED STATES SENATOR 51 

*' heads I win, tails you lose", which so insulted 
the Free State men that they refused to partici- 
pate in the vote. 

"When Jones went down to Washington he 
found his long time friend President Buchanan 
fully committed to the South, and heard in his 
message to Congress urgent recommendations 
for the admission of Kansas with the Lecomp- 
ton Constitution. Buchanan had blundered. 
With him were the Southern Democrats, but he 
had split the ranks of the Democrats of the 
North. Douglas, unable to witness such a per- 
version of his theory of squatter sovereignty, 
took a bold stand against the proposition, and 
carried three Democratic Senators with him in 
direct opposition to the administration. In the 
House the defection from President Buchanan 
showed itself even more markedly. 

Jones aligned himself with the Democrats 
who supported Buchanan. He well knew the 
political make-up of the General Assembly of 
Iowa. He knew that the majority of the voters 
of the State were against him. But he had 
chosen his course and he would not recant. Nor 
did he evade. He had fast friends among the 
Southerners, and his early environments made 
him fundamentally in sympathy with them. He 
probably believed in the ultimate triumph of the 
old time Democracy. Like many another he 
realized but dimly the strength and inherently 



52 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

permanent foundations of the party which had 
been forcing his friend Dodge and himself from 
the political stage. 

That party had easy control of the General 
Assembly of Iowa, and in caucus on January 
25, 1858, its members nominated for United 
States Senator the man who had as leader of the 
new organization been made Governor four 
years before — James W. Grimes. The Demo- 
cratic caucus held on the same day selected 
Benjamin M. Samuels as the opposing candi- 
date. An informal ballot showed nineteen votes 
for Samuels, thirteen for Jones, six for Thomas 
S. Wilson, and two scattering. A formal ballot 
which followed gave Samuels twenty-eight votes 
and Jones ten. It is possible that the open 
stand taken by Jones in favor of the Lecompton 
Constitution had its influence in his rejection 
by the Democracy of his State. On the next day 
in joint session the legislature chose James W. 
Grimes to succeed Jones as United States Sen- 
ator. 

A few days before the election the General 
Assembly of Iowa expressed its condemnation 
of the Lecompton Constitution with no uncer- 
tain terms. A joint resolution was passed 
instructing the two Senators and requesting the 
Eepresentatives in Congress to oppose the 
admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Con- 
stitution and condemning the President and 



UNITED STATES SENATOR 53 

others in autliority who had advised or con- 
sented to such admission. The resolution 
included a clause requesting that the Senators 
from Iowa resign ' ' unless they can support the 
foregoing resolves, and vote as therein indi- 
cated."^^ 

On February 4th Jones presented these reso- 
lutions and asked that they be read and printed. 
He then informed the Senate that he had pre- 
sented the resolutions as a matter of respect to 
his State, and not because he had the remotest 
idea of obeying their instructions. He asserted 
that the people of Iowa had not the question of 
the admission of Kansas before them when they 
chose the present legislature and that the vote 
on the resolutions had been a strict party vote, 
the Republicans voting for and the Democrats 
to a man against the instructions. He was con- 
vinced that when they came to understand the 
question as he did they would not refuse to ad- 
mit the State as proposed. He believed that the 
people of Kansas had had opportunities of ex- 
pressing themselves at the ballot box and had 
refused to do so. His own mind was irre- 
vocably made up to vote for admission and 
sustain the administration as far as he was able. 
He favored pairing off Kansas and Minnesota 
as Iowa and Florida had been paired years be- 
fore in an effort to preserve the balance of 
States.«* 



54 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

The President's recommendation in regard to 
Kansas was referred to tlie Committee on Ter- 
ritories of which Douglas was chairman and of 
which Jones was a member. On February 18, 
1858, two weeks after Jones had expressed his 
views of the instructions from the Iowa legis- 
lature, the committee reported through Senator 
Green of Missouri a bill for the admission of 
Kansas with the Lecompton Constitution. Four 
members of the committee were behind the ma- 
jority report, Jones of Iowa and the Senators 
from three slave States — Green of Missouri, 
Sebastian of Arkansas, and Fitzpatrick of Ala- 
bama. Douglas presented a minority report 
embodying his opposition to the measure ; while 
a second minority report was signed by Sena- 
tors "Wade of Ohio and Collamer of Vermont.^^ 

Douglas stubbornly fought the bill, but it 
passed the Senate on March 23d, Jones record- 
ing himself consistently in its favor. In the 
House, where the numerical opposition was 
stronger, an amendment was added providing 
for submission of the Constitution in a proper 
manner to the vote of the people of Kansas. 
The Senate disagreed to the amendment, and a 
conference committee finally proposed a com- 
promise which passed both houses and was 
approved by the President. This adjustment 
made a grant of land to Kansas with the pro- 
vision that if she accepted the grant the State 



UNITED STATES SENATOR 55 

should be at once admitted under the Lecompton 
Constitution. If the grant was not accepted, 
Kansas was to remain a Territory until its 
population reached the number necessary for a 
Eepresentative in Congress. When this propo- 
sition — an undisguised bribe — was presented 
to the people of Kansas they rejected it with a 
ten-to-one vote and preserved their honor and 
their Territorial status. 

In was in this year, 1858, that the famous 
campaign between Lincoln and Douglas took 
place. Jones openly opposed Douglas. He was 
influenced, no doubt, by both political and per- 
sonal reasons. The stand which Douglas had 
taken against the Buchanan administration 
alienated him from the old line Democrats, and 
the dispute over the amendment offered by 
Jones to the Illinois Central Railroad bill made 
a wide breach between the two men. 

The inhabitants of Galena appear not to have 
forgotten the neglect of their town and it was 
without doubt to pacify these constituents that 
a letter was published in the Galena Courier 
from Stephen A. Douglas, in which he explained 
his action in allowing the amendment to pass 
changing the terminus from Galena to Dubuque. 
He had endeavored to dissuade Jones from pre- 
senting the amendment, he said, but the Iowa 
Senators were immovable and insisted upon de- 
feating tht' bill unless the terminus was 



56 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

changed. Eatlier than lose the bill he had con- 
sented to the amendment. 

This letter was printed in the issue of No- 
vember 2, 1858. The reply of Jones was 
immediate and direct. On November 9th he 
wrote to Douglas a letter long and scathing. 
He denied the statements of the ' ' Little Giant ' ' 
as to his threatening to defeat the bill and re- 
marked in his closing paragraph : ' ' This, sir, is 
the third time that you have made 'infamously 
false' accusations against me, and that I have 
been compelled to fasten the lie upon you." He 
mailed the letter to Douglas, and in order to 
make certain that it would not be overlooked he 
sent copies of it to the newspapers for publi- 
cation. Less outspoken words than these had 
oft times been the cause of duels, and many 
were they who looked for a challenge from 
Douglas. But the expected reply was not forth- 
coming, and so the incident closed without 
further ado.^® 

The short session of 1858-1859 was the last in 
which Jones sat as Senator from Iowa. With 
the fourth of March came the close of his Con- 
gressional career. When Senator Dodge had 
been shelved by the legislature of his State, 
President Pierce had sent him to Spain as Min- 
ister from the United States, And now when 
the fortunes of politics swept Jones in his turn 
out of office President Buchanan proffered him 



UNITED STATES SENATOR 57 

the office of Minister at Bogota, capital of the 
republic of New Granada — now the United 
States of Colombia. The offer was made to 
Jones before he left Washington, and was de- 
clined. But after reaching his home at Dubuque 
he reconsidered his answer and accepted the 
post. 



IV 

Later Years 

Santa Fe de Bogota was the name given in the 
old Spanish regime to the town to which Jones 
now turned his way. It was a quaint old town 
and the way thither led one along interesting 
trails. It was early summer when the new 
Minister, accompanied by his son Charles as 
Secretary, left the United States for South 
America. 

They landed at Carthagena, the old coast 
fortress whose walls date back to the time of 
the Inquisition. From there they crossed over 
to the Magdalena River and began its ascent by 
steamer to the high lands of the interior. Low 
and swampy country bordered the old Spanish 
Main, but in their long river journey they found 
uplands taking the place of marshes and the 
native Indian supplanting the dawdling negro. 

At length they reached Honda where they 
turned from the river to the mule trail over the 
mountains. It was a ride of several days. Up 
over the ridges of three spurs of the Andean 
mountains they climbed, and descended again 
into as many valleys before they made the final 
ascent to the edge of the broad plateau upon 

58 



LATER YEARS 59 

which rested the capital of New Granada. Near- 
ly two miles in the air and hundreds of miles 
from anywhere was the town of Bogota — a 
town of pleasant manners and turbulent his- 

^Qj.y 87 

Jones found the place to his liking and the 
post found him not without qualifications. He 
was a Catholic among a Catholic people. He 
spoke French fluently and found it understood. 
He had in his disposition and manners much 
that was akin to the characteristics of the 
Eomance people; and with the courteous and 
cultivated inhabitants of the plateau of Bogota 
he formed strong friendships. 

He came upon the country when it was under- 
going a revolution. General Ospina, leader of 
the conservatives, held the capital city; but 
Mosquera — once a conservative himself but 
toned down into a moderate by the compelling 
force of politics — was advancing with his 
army, and during the ministry of Jones cap- 
tured the city of Bogota and formed a new 
government, federal in form, under the title of 
"The United States of Colombia ".^^ 

With both conqueror and conquered Jones 
made friends — if we may follow his own record 
of events — and it is safe to say that he served 
well the interests of the country which sent him, 
for he was able and had always shown himself 
diligent in the performance of duties. For more 



60 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

than two years he held the position at Bo- 
gota. Then the administration at Washington 
changed, and President Lincoln appointed 
Allen A. Burton of Kentucky in his place. 

Through the late summer and fall of 1861, 
Jones anxiously awaited the arrival of his suc- 
cessor, whom he daily expected. He knew by 
this time that civil war had come upon his land 
and that his two sons had joined the Confed- 
erate army, and so he was desirous of getting 
home to the remnant of his family at Dubuque. 
It was in early November that Burton reached 
Bogota and, bidding farewell to the city on the 
heights, Jones set out for his own disordered 
country. Early December found him at Wash- 
ington, where he reported to Secretary Seward 
and spent a fortnight among the scenes he had 
known so well. The story of these days and of 
the events which followed is dramatically told 
by Jones himself.^^ 

Taking a friendly leave of Seward he went 
down to New York a few days before Christ- 
mas only to be met with arrest upon the 
authority of a telegram from the Secretary of 
State from whom he had so recently parted. 
The same day he was taken under guard to Fort 
Lafayette. It was one of a large number of 
arrests made by the administration for the pre- 
vention of treasonable negotiations. In the case 
of George W. Jones, the immediate cause of his 



LATER YEARS 61 

apprehension was the discovery of letters 
among his effects containing what the authori- 
ties judged to be treasonable utterances. One 
of these was a letter to Jefferson Davis.^^ 
Another was written to Isaac E. Morse of 
Louisiana.^ ^ 

Some weeks later these letters were pub- 
lished in the newspapers of the State of Iowa, 
accompanied in most cases by the condemnation 
of the editors even of the Democratic organs. 
It appears, however, that D. A. Mahoney of the 
Dubuque Herald, though his attitude toward 
Jones in the past had been anything but friend- 
jy^92 niade some effort to defend him. Within a 
year Mahoney himself entered the doors of the 
Federal jail charged with treasonable machina- 
tions. 

The letter from Jones to Davis was dated 
May 17, 1861. It was written before he knew of 
the firing on Fort Sumter and of the existence 
of civil war. A long letter it was and full of 
intimate expression of opinion. To a certain 
extent he reviewed his whole public life, com- 
mented at length upon the reasons for his 
having favored Lincoln in preference to Doug- 
las in 1858, and remarked that he had hoped 
Lincoln would proclaim his total dissent from 
the '^mad schemes of his Abolition supporters". 

The whole letter was an arraignment of aboli- 
tionism which he looked upon as the cause of all 



62 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

the present difficulties and the only obstacle to 
compromise and a preserved union — with the 
possible exception of the (to his mind) unprin- 
cipled demagogue Stephen A. Douglas. Then 
he proceeded to write of more personal matters 
as follows : 

My latest dates are to the 22"^ of February, and I 
tremble at the thought of receiving other dispatches, 
&c., lest they shall announce the existence of civil war. 
My prayers are regularly offered up for the reunion 
of the States and for the peace, concord and happiness 
of my country. But let what may come to pass, you 
may rely upon it, as you say, that neither I nor mine 
will ever be found in the ranks of our (your) enemies. 
May God Almighty avert civil war, but if unhappily 
it shall come, you may (I think without doubt,) count 
on me and mine, and hosts of other friends standing 
shoulder to shoulder in the ranks with you and other 
Southern friends and relatives whose rights, like my 
own, have been disregarded by the Abolitionists. I 
love Iowa and Wisconsin for the honors conferred by 
them on me, and because I always served them faith- 
fully, but I will not make war with them against the 
South whose rights they shamefully neglected. Nor 
will I ever sanction any effort to coerce the South to 
submit to the North in reference to a question (Slav- 
ery) with which the North has no right to interfere 
and that too in a palpable violation of the Constitution 
of my country — the treaty with France — the law of 
God himself and every principle of justice, reason, and 
the experience of the world .... ]\Iay God bless 



LATER YEARS 63 

you, your family and your own Sunny South, which 
[I] will still hope and pray shall be re-united to the 
cold North. 

He concluded the letter with the remark that 
"the dissolution of the Union will probably be 
the cause of my own ruin as well as that of my 
country, and may cause me and mine to go 
South. '"'^ This last statement probably refers 
to an intention — which he expressed upon the 
occasion of a visit to his brother in Texas in 
1857 — of making a home in the Lone Star 
State. The letter to Morse was penned on 
August 1, 1861. By this time Jones knew the 
worst. He expresses himself as ''exceedingly 
anxious to return home to my family — my sons 
having left them to come down South to fight 
for the maintainance of the Constitution, the 
laws, and the rights of the people of the South, 
as I intend to do if required to fight at all, and 
if it be possible for me to leave my family and 
my private affairs now almost in a ruined state 
in consequence of the crisis. — Great God, what 
a calamity civil war will be to my country !"^^ 

On the basis of these letters Jones was ar- 
rested. For two months he was held at Fort 
Lafayette. Then came release upon an order of 
the Secretary of War, dated February 14, 1862. 
On the 22nd of the same month Jones walked 
out of prison after giving his parole engaging 
to render no aid or comfort to enemies in hos- 



64 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

tility to the United States.^^ In Iowa he found 
a vast amount of execration in store for him. A 
year and a half before — in the fall of 1860 — 
he had come up to the States for a brief visit, 
and upon his approach to his home town the 
Mayor of Dubuque headed a procession which 
crossed the river, met him at Dunleith, and 
escorted him in triumph through the streets of 
Dubuque to his residence. ^'^ But now he found 
little favor in a State which had grown fast and 
strong in abolition sentiments. Perhaps the 
least of his detractors was D. A. Mahoney of the 
Herald. The publication of the letters brought 
still more widespread condemnation upon his 
head. 

In July it appears that Jones wrote to Ma- 
honey a long letter in self defense, which 
appears in the columns of the Herald.^'^ His 
contention was that his meaning had been mis- 
apprehended — that he had not meant that he 
would engage in a war against the North, but 
that he would do so against the Abolition Party 
alone. Furthermore, he had written another let- 
ter to Jefferson Davis which had also been 
intercepted but not published ; and in this letter, 
he said, he had urged Davis to "remain in the 
Union and then I and my sons and the whole 
Democracy of the North will fight with you to 
sustain you in your rights, under the Constitu- 
tion, to hold slaves and to reclaim them under 



LATER YEARS 65 

the Fugitive Slave Law when found in the 
North." He had been always, he contended, 
opposed to secession or any disruption of the 
Union and in favor of a peaceable adjustment 
of difficulties ''by amendment of the laws or the 
Constitution, by compromise or concession; 
anything rather than civil war." His every 
word, act and vote in Congress and as Minister 
in Bogota had proven, he thought, that he be- 
lieved the Union could remain part slave and 
part free and that the conflict was not an irre- 
pressible one. 

Such was, in the main, the defense of Jones. 
"With the people of the State at large it had lit- 
tle effect. They cared not for discriminations. 
In their eyes, particularly if they were of the 
Republican majority, he was worse than a 
Southern rebel inasmuch as he did not have the 
slavery environments and the allegiance to a 
slave State to impel him in that direction. 
Many another Democrat came into like disre- 
pute, though the great majority of those who 
held similar views were more guarded in their 
expression and thus avoided such public denun- 
ciation. 

It is not difficult, with the foregoing facts and 
letters, to construct a definite idea of the atti- 
tude of George W. Jones. Nor is it hard to 
trace the reasons for this attitude. He was 
born on free soil, it is true, at Vincennes, Indi- 



ee GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

ana. But the Territories of Indiana and 
Illinois, in which he spent the first years of his 
life, contained hundreds of slaves, and the 
friends of the system were putting forth 
strenuous efforts to make slavery legal and 
permanent. Among the most able and most 
prominent of those pro-slavery men who so 
nearly made black bondage secure north of the 
Ohio Eiver was his father, John Eice Jones.^^ 

Then for a score of years Jones lived in 
the Territory and State of Missouri. In a 
slave-holding family and among slave-holding 
neighbors he was a part of the great South and 
felt as they did about their peculiar institution. 
He was schooled in St. Louis and in Lexington, 
Kentucky, and at the latter place bound himself 
with affectionate ties to Jefferson Davis and a 
dozen other men of Southern birth and antece- 
dents. Each year made him more a Southerner 
until he moved to the lead mines of the north. 

By this time the trend of his life was largely 
established. He took with him slaves and kept 
them for many years.^^ On this northwestern 
frontier he saw more of Jefferson Davis and 
found a large number of the miners claiming 
their origin from the States below the Ohio and 
Missouri. When he went to Congress as Dele- 
gate his most intimate friend at Washington was 
his boyhood doctor, Lewis F. Linn of Missouri. 
He moved to Iowa and became United States 



LATER YEARS 67 

Senator together with another one time Mis- 
sourian. As the years came and went the warp 
of his youth stayed with him. The State of 
Iowa, peopled at first so largely from the South, 
underwent a change. But Jones did not change 
and so the State passed him by and discarded 
him. With Southern tenacity he clung to the 
principles of his early days and the party of his 
early devotion until his party became a pathetic 
fragment of disrupted hopes and his principles 
made him a Pariah among his fellows. 

His public life was over at fifty-seven. In the 
town of his adoption on the west shore of the 
Mississippi he settled down to a quiet life of 
retirement that lasted until he died thirty-five 
years later. The Civil War passed, and grad- 
ually with the slow healing of years ancient 
friendships revived. He grew into an old age 
full of happy associations and mellowed by trib- 
utes of respect from the State he once had 
served. He was called upon now and then to 
make public speeches and addresses. Occasion- 
ally he wandered back to Washington and 
mingled with the generation of law-makers that 
had followed him at the capital. Twice at least 
he visited the South — once to see his old friend 
Jefferson Davis and again, in 1889, to help bury 
him. 

In 1892 an act passed Congress granting him 
a pension of twenty dollars a month for his 



68 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

services as drummer boy in the War of 1812 and 
as aid to Dodge in the Black Hawk War.^"^ It 
must have been received with peculiar feelings 
by him who had for ten years acted as Chairman 
of the Committee on Pensions in the United 
States Senate and passed upon thousands of 
similar cases. 

And so as he moved on toward his closing 
years he came to be a patriarch in the State. 
White-haired and full of years, he had outlived 
his generation. He linked the present with the 
days of the State 's infancy. In this same year, 
1892, he gave an address before the annual 
meeting of the Pioneer Law-Makers Association 
at Des Moines.^^^ A year later he was again in 
Des Moines, and Charles Aldrich, receiving a 
visit from him, wrote that "he is still in the 
enjoyment of excellent health, and is as fastid- 
ious regarding the polish of his boots, the twist 
in his mustache, and the ringlets in his hair, as 
deferential in his treatment of ladies, as kind to 
little children, as breezy and full of good-fellow- 
ship when meeting old friends, as when the 
writer saw him gliding about the floor of the 
U. S. Senate in 1852, and throwing salutations 
to the beauties in the gallery. "^*^^ 

His ninetieth birthday approached. In 
March, 1894, Governor Jackson sent to the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Iowa a special message.^"^ He 
briefly reviewed the services of George W. 



LATER YEARS 69 

Jones to the Territory and State, commented on 
the fact that the twelfth of April marked the 
ninetieth anniversary of the birth of Jones, and 
urged that as an appropriate recognition of this 
eminent citizen an invitation be extended to him 
to visit the capital of the State and that a re- 
ception be tendered to him by the General 
Assembly in joint convention. The suggestion 
was acted upon by the two houses; and as the 
session was soon to close the fourth of April 
was selected as the date for the occasion. 

The invitation pleased not only Jones but the 
citizens of Dubuque as well. At a meeting in 
that city they drew up and adopted resolutions 
of gratitude and appreciation which contained 
these words : 

Resolved, That during the sixty-four years ex- 
Minister and ex-Senator Jones has been a resident of 
Dubuque and of Sinsinawa Mound near by, he has, as 
our most earnest and active friend, done herculean 
work to advance and promote our general prosperity, 
and merits our lasting gratitude and friendship, and 
as the organizer of Iowa Territory and the godfather 
of the great State of Iowa and his life-long devotion 
to her best interests, he is deserving of the high com- 
pliment about to be paid him, and the citizens of 
Dubuque will heartily co-operate to make the day 
memorable not only to the city of Dubuque, but in the 
annals of Iowa. 

Resolved, That his fidelity to Iowa and to her best 
interests, and his unswerving faithfulness to his 



70 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

friends, combined with his pure and unsullied private 
character, has justly endeared General Jones to our 
citizens here amongst whom he has resided two thirds 
of a century.i*^* 

On the afternoon of the fourth of April, two 
days before the session was adjourned, the two 
houses of the General Assembly of Iowa met in 
joint convention to receive Jones. Addresses of 
welcome were given by the presiding officers, 
after which Jones addressed the Assembly.^*'^ 
This action coming from the representatives of 
the State was fitting and deserved. Jones, in 
spite of his mistakes, had wrought much good to 
Iowa during his long term of service, and it is 
a matter of rejoicing that the recognition came 
not too late. 

It is safe to say that the last years of the life 
of George W. Jones were happy. He was able 
in body and clear in mind. He enjoyed as do 
few men the exchange of greetings with man- 
kind, old and young, and long and familiar 
conversations with congenial souls. Many were 
the homes in the town of Dubuque where friends 
loved well to have the gallant old man with 
white beard and curly hair come in for a rem- 
iniscent chat. 

Jones had known many public men and had 
known them intimately. He had had a part in 
many public events and he was a vivid story- 
teller. As he saw approaching the inevitable 



LATER YEARS 71 

secession of his soul from his body he began to 
put his recollections into permanent form. 
Though his memory often played him false, the 
tale that he thus tells is an enlightening record 
of events in the life of an interesting public 
character. 

He had lived beyond his ninety-second birth- 
day when, on July 22, 1896, with less than four 
years left of the century he so nearly spanned, 
he died at his home in Dubuque, Iowa. 



PART II 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



73 



Autobiography of George Wallace Jones 

I WAS born at Vincennes, Indiana, on the 12th 
day of April, at half past ten o'clock in the 
morning, 1804. My father, John Eice Jones, 
was born at Mallwydd, Merionethshire, North 
Wales, on the 11th day of February, 1759. 
My mother, Mary Barger, was born in Penn- 
sylvania, in 1767. My father had married a 
Miss Eliza Powell at Brecon in Brecknockshire, 
Wales, before coming to the United States, by 
whom he had two children. Rice and Maria. 
After coming to the United States his first wife 
died and he married Miss Mary Barger, by 
whom he had eight children, viz : John, Eliza, 
Augustus, Harriet, Myers Fisher, George Wal- 
lace, Nancy and William Powell. 

John Rice Jones, my father, was a man of 
great learning, a distinguished soldier, and 
thoroughly democratic in his conception of gov- 
ernmental concerns. He received a finished 
education in England in the classics, in law, and 
in medicine, and was an accomplished linguist 
and mathematician. He practised law in Lon- 
don, Great Britain, for a short time. He came 
to America in 1784 and settled in Philadelphia, 

75 



76 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

where he became the intimate friend of Benja- 
min Franklin, the eminent philosopher and 
Minister to France, and of Myers Fisher, the 
celebrated barrister of Philadelphia. He was 
also the friend of Henry Clay, John Rowan, 
Judge Jesse Bledsoe, and Major William T. 
Barry, Post Master General of the United 
States under President Jackson in 1829 and 
also Minister of Spain. 

He early manifested a longing for the West- 
ern country, and upon the advice of Franklin 
and others located in Louisville, Kentucky, 
where he took up the practice of law. He at 
once interested himself in military affairs and 
associated himself, as Commissary General, 
with Gen. George Rogers Clark's army, which 
was organized under authority of the Governor 
of Virginia to subdue the Indians in the North- 
western Territory. 

This war brought him to Vincennes, Indiana, 
and later to Kaskaskia, Illinois. After the war 
was over he resumed the practice of law at Vin- 
cennes, Kaskaskia, and St. Louis, traveling 
between those distant posts on horseback, and 
camping frequently with his brother lawyers. 

At Vincennes he was the intimate friend of 
Gen. W^illiam Henry Harrison, who, at the or- 
ganization of Indiana Territory, was appointed 
the Governor. Gen. Harrison was elected 
President of the United States in 1840, and was 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 77 

the grandfather of the present ex-president 
Benjamin Harrison. I was at that time three 
or four years old, and remember that Gen. 
William Henry Harrison often danced me on 
his foot.1^6 

While my father lived in Indiana, Congress 
was petitioned to divide the Territory of Indi- 
ana and establish that of Illinois. Jesse B. 
Thomas became an aspirant for Delegate, pledg- 
ing himself to secure the division of Indiana 
Territory and establish the Territory of Illinois. 
He was required, however, before they would 
elect him as Delegate, to give bond and security 
that he would procure the organization of the 
Territory of Illinois, if possible. My father 
drew that bond, and when Thomas appeared in 
the House of Eepresentatives to take the oath as 
Delegate, some one in the gallery, who knew of 
his having had to give the bond, called out 
twice: ''Where is the bond?"^°'^ 

In 1807-1808 my father removed with his 
family to Ste. Genevieve, Missouri,^^^ and prac- 
tised law there ; he also practised law at Mine a 
Breton, now Potosi, and at St. Louis, Missouri. 
In the fall of 1814 he removed from Ste. Gene- 
vieve to New Diggings within two and one-half 
miles of Potosi, to which latter place he subse- 
quently removed, and where he continued to 
reside the remainder of his life. He died at the 
residence of his daughter, Mrs. John Scott, on 



78 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Third Street, St. Louis, February 1, 1824, dur- 
ing the session of the Supreme Court. At the 
time of his death he was a Justice of the Su- 
preme Court of the State of Missouri. He was 
a member of the Constitutional Convention of 
the State of Missouri and drew the first draft 
of its Constitution. His long and useful career 
has become a definite portion of the recorded 
pages of the history of Missouri. He was a 
competitor of the Hon. Thomas H. Benton at 
the first election of United States Senators, and 
was a warm friend and supporter of Col. Ben- 
ton up to the day of his death. There were no 
politics in Missouri in those days, hence he and 
Benton were warm friends whilst both were 
made by their mutual friends candidates for the 
Senate of the United States. My father served 
with distinction in the Indian wars whilst a 
resident of Vincennes, for which he received, 
under act of Congress, certain lands.^*^^ 

When my half-brother Rice Jones was old 
enough, his father sent him to Lexington, Ken- 
tucky, to attend the Law School there, where he 
became the intimate young friend of Henry 
Clay, Major William T. Barry, Col. Richard M. 
Johnson (of Tippecanoe battle memory and 
who afterwards became a member of Congress 
and Vice President of the United States) and 
the Hon. John J. Crittenden, Senator in Con- 
gress from Kentucky. Rice Jones graduated 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 79 

from the Law Scliool of Transylvania Univer- 
sity. He was a man of great culture and learn- 
ing. When I was a Delegate from Michigan 
Territory, Col. Johnson told me that he believed 
''Eice Jones was the smartest and wisest man he 
had ever known." After graduating from 
the Law School he returned to Kaskaskia, 
where he practised law and medicine. He was 
an able writer, and through some of his ar- 
ticles in local newspapers gave offense to Bond, 
who afterwards became Governor of Illinois 
and who challenged him to fight a duel. They 
prepared to fight, but after reaching the field 
the matter was adjusted to the entire satisfac- 
tion of Bond but to the c^issatisfaction of Dr. 
Dunlap, who was the warm friend of Bond and 
the personal enemy of my brother, Rice Jones. 
A few weeks after the proposed duel, Dr. Dun- 
lap saw Rice Jones pass along the streets in 
Kaskaskia and exclaimed ''There goes Rice 
Jones now!" He hitched his horse to a post 
and drawing a pistol from his belt shot my 
brother through the body. A friend saw Rice 
fall, ran up to him and asked "What has 
happened ? " He replied, ' ' Dr. Dunlap has mur- 
dered me I" and expired in a few seconds. Dr. 
Dunlap mounted his horse, made his escape, and 
has never been since heard from, although my 
uncle, William Shannon, then considered a 
wealthy man, offered a reward of Five Thou- 



80 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

sand Dollars (which was considered a large sum 
at that time) for his apprehension. The belief 
is that he escaped to Mexico, or what is now the 
State of Texas. 

John Rice Jones' oldest daughter by his sec- 
ond marriage was married to Hon. Andrew 
Scott, at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, November 5, 
1811, who removed to New Diggings, Missouri. 
He was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court 
of the Territory of Arkansas, into which Terri- 
tory he removed and organized the territorial 
government himself at the post of Arkansas in 
1819, rearing a large family of children — his 
eldest son, Hon. John Rice Homer Scott, being 
still a resident of the State and highly honored 
by his fellow citizens. John Rice Homer Scott's 
oldest son, Dr. Andrew Scott, is now a citizen of 
Little Rock, Arkansas, standing high in his pro- 
fession as a physician. His third son, George 
Scull Crittenden Scott, is an honored merchant 
of McGregor, Iowa. Their brother, Henry Clay 
Scott, is a respected citizen of Austin, Illinois. 
Two of their sisters married — Eliza, to the 
Hon. Benjamin H. Campbell, who had a large 
family of children and grand children, and was 
himself United States Marshal for Illinois ; and 
the second sister, Elizabeth, who married Hon. 
J. Russell Jones, also United States Marshal, 
and all residents of Chicago. 

John Rice Jones' second daughter, Harriet, 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 81 

married Thomas Brady, a wealthy, influential 
merchant of St. Lonis, Missouri, and a native 
of the City of Cork, Ireland. He died in St. 
Louis in 1820, leaving twin sons (one of whom 
later died) and three daughters. The widow of 
Mr. Brady (Harriet) married, in 1824, Hon. 
John Scott, an older brother of Andrew, by 
whom she had several children — one the wife 
of Samuel M. Wilson, the leading attorney at 
the bar in San Francisco, California, who died 
a few years ago ; another, George Dodge Scott, 
is a merchant residing at Dubuque, Iowa. 

John and Myers F., sons of John Rice Jones, 
removed to the Republic of Texas, where they 
occupied positions of high honor and trust, 
Augustus removed to Texas in 1851, after it be- 
came a member of the Union. The oldest son, 
John, who added ''Rice" to his name after re- 
moving to Texas, because of the great number 
of his name there, was twice made Post Master 
General of the Republic, and was considered the 
ablest officer in his cabinet by President Sam 
Houston, afterwards the friend and brother 
United States Senator in Congress of George 
W. Jones, the subject of this sketch. The three 
brothers left large numbers of highly respected 
children to do honor to their parents and grand- 
parents. 

At the age of six years, I removed with my 
parents to Kaskaskia, Illinois, then to Ste. Gen- 



82 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

evieve, and later to Potosi, Missouri.^ ^*^ At Ste. 
Genevieve I went to the village school, my pre- 
ceptor being the Hon. Mann Butler, the author 
of the history of Kentucky, who later became 
the professor of mathematics in Transylvania 
University, where I was graduated on July 13, 
1825. At Ste. Genevieve I was the drummer 
boy of the company of volunteers commanded 
by Capt. William Linn, the younger brother of 
the late Lewis F. Linn, the model Senator of 
Missouri, who was my devoted friend whilst I 
was a Delegate in Congress from Michigan and 
Wisconsin Territories, and from my infancy. 
This was in the War of 1812. 

In 1821 1 was sent from St. Louis, where I had 
been at the Catholic College, under Bishop Du 
Bourg, to Transylvania University, Lexington, 
Kentucky, under the charge of my father's old 
and esteemed friend, Governor Ninian Edwards 
(then a Senator in Congress from Illinois), 
riding on horseback from St. Louis to Lexing- 
ton. At Frankfort, at the house of Francis P. 
Blair, afterwards editor of the Congressional 
Globe with John C. Rives, I was introduced by 
Governor Edwards to Hon. Henry Clay and 
Major William T. Barry, the former then 
Speaker of the House of Representatives of the 
United States, and the latter Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor of Kentucky and ex-officio President of 
the Senate of the State. I had letters of intro- 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 83 

duction to Messrs. Clay and Barry, whose ward 
I was to be while in college. I also bore a letter 
of introduction to Alexander Parker, a rich old 
merchant at Lexington, the father-in-law of the 
eldest brother of Hon. John J. Crittenden. 
With three such distinguished Lexingtonians as 
solicitous patrons, I could not have entered col- 
lege under more favorable auspices, for I soon 
became very intimate with their families and 
large circle of friends. It was at that time and 
place that I made the acquaintance of Jefferson 
Davis, who was considered the best looking as 
he was the most intelligent and best beloved 
student in the University. I formed a warm 
friendship with him which has known no inter- 
ruption. 

I also made the acquaintance of David R. 
Atchison, Solomon W. Downs, Edward A. Han- 
negan, Jesse D. Bright, Owen Glendower Cates, 
Governor Morehead, Hon. John W. Tibbatts, 
Belvard J. Peters, and others, who, after being 
my college mates, became my colleagues in Con- 
gress and firm friends.^ ^^ I believe I am now 
' ' the last of the Mohicans ' ', excepting, perhaps, 
the aforesaid Belvard J. Peters, one of my fel- 
low graduates who is still practising law, having 
been Justice of the Supreme Court, at Mount 
Sterling, Kentucky. Among others of my col- 
lege mates were Gen. Gustavus A. Henry 
(afterwards General of the Confederate Army 



84 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

and styled the "Eagle Orator", because of his 
great eloquence), Thomas Jefferson Jennings, 
Hon. Landaff W. Andrews and his three broth- 
ers (Landatf W. afterwards becoming my 
brother member of Congress) and Hon. John 
M. Bass of Nashville, Tennessee, who married 
a daughter of Hon. Felix Grundy, Attorney 
General under Martin Van Buren, at Nashville, 
Tennessee — married on the 7th of January, 
same day of my marriage, by agreement. 

At Lexington, in 1823, for the sake of 
exercise, I became a member of the Cavalry 
Company of Captain Prindle. 

In November of that year. Gen. Andrew Jack- 
son passed through Kentucky and Lexington, 
from the Hermitage in Tennessee, on his way 
to take his seat in the United States Senate. I 
had the honor of being appointed Sergeant of 
the body-guard of the old hero as he was escort- 
ed through the State by thousands of admiring 
citizens. In the May following I occupied a like 
enviable position to the Marquis de Lafayette, 
the revolutionary friend of Washington, ''the 
Father of his country", as the distinguished 
hero also passed through Kentucky on his 
celebrated visit to the United States, whose 
independence he aided so materially to acquire. 

I was graduated at Transylvania on the 13th 
of July, 1825, in a class of fifty-two young gen- 
tlemen, when that institution was at its best, 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 85 

under the presidency of Eev. Horace Holley, 
one of the most distinguished educators of the 
day. 

After graduating I came to Ste. Genevieve, 
Missouri, and entered the law office of my 
brother-in-law, the Hon. John Scott, who had 
been some fifteen years in Congress from the 
Territory and State of Missouri.^ ^^ The firm 
name was Scott and Allen (Beverly). In a 
few months afterwards I became a terrible 
sufferer from headache, dyspepsia, and inter- 
mittent fever, and was often very ill, although 
under the care of Dr. Linn^^^ who was consid- 
ered the most able physician in the whole 
country, even at Washington City, where there 
were so many of that learned profession. After 
a long and very severe illness, Dr. Linn came 
into my sick room and earnestly advised me to 
give up, at least for a time, the confinement of 
the law office and resort to open air exercise and 
hard work as the only means of restoring my 
health. He urged me to go to the Fever River 
lead mines and engage in mining and smelting, 
of which I had acquired considerable knowledge 
at Potosi, Missouri, where my father had owned 
extensive lead mines and lead furnaces. He 
said: ''Buy yourself a French pony, hire some 
of these Creoles here, ride out five or ten miles 
a day, sleep on a hard bed, give up high living 
— trying corn bread and rough fare as the only 



86 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

means of restoring yonr health." He added: 
''It has taken all my skill and the kind and 
gentle nursing of your sister, Mrs. Scott, and 
Aunt Shannon to save your life for the last 
eighteen months." He also said: **If you do 
not take my advice you will never get Josephine 
for your wife. ' ' This decided me and I left Ste. 
Genevieve the next day for the Fever River lead 
mines, which were located in Michigan Terri- 
tory, now the State of Wisconsin. 

It was in the Spring of 1827 that I came to 
that section of the country, "squatted" upon 
Sinsinawa Mound in Grant County, now in the 
State of Wisconsin, taking up 1001 acres. I re- 
turned to Ste. Genevieve to hire my Frenchmen 
and get my outfit. I was soon again prostrated 
by a severe fever, from which I did not recover 
for several months, and so had to defer my de- 
parture from Ste. Genevieve until the following 
Spring, when I bought a French pony, had 250 
barrels of kiln-dried corn meal put up, hired 
ten or twelve men, and returned to the lead 
region to seek my health and fortune. On land- 
ing at Galena, I bought five yoke of oxen and a 
wagon, came out to Sinsinawa Mound, and slept 
on the ground under my wagon. The next 
morning at daylight I put the men to chop- 
ping down trees; and in two days thereafter I 
slept in the log cabin that I had built and com- 
pleted in that time. I carried up two corners 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 87 

of the house myself — the first manual labor I 
had ever done. The cabin was 49 by 17 feet, 
having an entry of 15 by 17 feet. Each room 
had one door and one window only, which I also 
put in. The flooring was of planks which I had 
brought from Ste. Genevieve. 

The next day I put my men to quarrying rock, 
and in a few days I had two good log furnaces 
built. I then set teamsters to hauling mineral 
from the Menominee and Fever River and other 
lead mines. I was soon turning out my 150 pigs 
of lead per day, and with the sale of goods which 
I bought at St. Louis I was as busy a man as 
could be found anywhere in those ''diggings". 
I slept in my bunk, which I built in one corner 
of my log cabin ; I ate with my hired men, one of 
them by turns being cook; my food was corn 
bread, coffee and tea, pickled salt pork and 
bacon, I having no milk and not a vegetable. I 
had my men up at daylight and they did not less 
than sixteen or seventeen hours of work per 
day; and better workers never came up to this 
frontier country. Every night between twelve 
and one o'clock, I would go down to my fur- 
naces, some seventy or eighty yards off, to see 
that all things were going on properly. If I 
could not right matters, I would send my smelt- 
ers down to do so. I had the best set of men 
that I have ever seen in my life, and with my 
smelting, mining and merchandising I was mak- 



88 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

ing money rapidly and getting ready to go down 
to Ste. Genevieve to spend the winter and marry 
Josephine Gregoire — which I did on January 
7th, 1829, on her 17th birthday. 

One night about nine o'clock I heard a voice 
hallooing outside. I stepped out and could 
barely see two men on horseback. The near one 
said: 

''Does Mr. Jones live here?" 

I replied: ''I am Mr. Jones." 

^'Can we get to stay all night with you?" 

''Yes", I replied, "but you will have hard 
fare, for I have no bed. I can give you some 
buffalo robes and hobble your horses out, as my 
horse is. But where are you going?" I asked. 

He replied: "To Fort Crawford, at Prairie 
du Chien. ' ' 

"Where are you from?" 

"From Galena." 

"Why, sir, you are twelve miles off your 
road." 

He then asked: "Mr. Jones, did you ever go 
to college at Lexington, Kentucky?" 

"Yes, I did." 

' ' Do you remember a college boy by the name 
of Jeff. Davis?" 

"Yes, I shall never forget that dear boy." 

"Well", he replied, "I am Jeff." 

I jumped out, hauled him from his horse, and 
said: "Dear Jeff! You shall come in and sleep 
in my bunk. ' ' 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 89 

He had not long before that graduated, in 
1828, at West Point, and been assigned to his 
infantry regiment at Fort Crawford, Prairie du 
Chien, and he had come on to see me, learning at 
Galena where I was. He was in search of de- 
serters. He often came to visit me at my log 
cabin and smelting establishment at Sinsinawa 
Mound before and after my marriage. 

When a law student in Mr. Scott's office, I 
became the deputy of Col. Joseph D. Grafton, 
who was Clerk of the Circuit Court of that 
County. In the absence of the Colonel, who was 
ill, I acted as his deputy when the famous John 
Smith T was tried for the murder of a Mr. 
Ball in the house of Mrs. John McArthur, the 
sister of the late Senator Lewis F. Linn, and 
half-sister of Gen. Henry Dodge. It was the 
ninth or tenth man that Smith had killed, and 
Mr. Scott was his sole defender and attorney. 
He was acquitted. 

A short time thereafter the Clerk of the 
United States District Court, Col. Thomas 
Oliver, died, whereupon Hon. John Scott drew 
up a petition to the Hon. James H. Peck, the 
United States District Judge, residing at St. 
Louis, recommending Col. Joseph D. Grafton to 
fill the vacancy. The petition was signed by 
Scott and Allen, Gen. Henry Dodge, then a citi- 
zen of Ste. Genevieve County and the United 
States Marshal of the State, mv uncle William 



90 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Shannon, President of the Bank, Dr. Linn, 
afterwards U. S. Senator, Judge Joseph Bogy, 
father of the late Hon. L. V. Bogy, United 
States Senator, Messrs. Kiel and Bisch, Charles 
Gregoire, Sr., (who became my father-in-law), 
and Jr., the Valles, and nearly every man in Ste. 
Genevieve who could write his name. The peti- 
tion was not shown to me, as I was quite young 
and had but a short time before become a citizen 
of the place, and I was not asked to sign it. A 
few days after the petition was sent off to the 
Hon. Judge Peck, I went to the Post Office, as 
usual, to get our mail. The Post Master, Mr. 
Amoureaux, handed me a large envelope and 
letter addressed to ''George W. Jones, Esq., 
Clerk of the United States Court, Ste. Gene- 
vieve, Missouri", with something like two or 
more dollars postage, the postage at that time 
being 25 cents for every piece of paper and 25 
cents for every half ounce. I declined to re- 
ceive the letter, saying : ' ' I am no Clerk of the 
U. S. Court and I have no $2.00 to throw away 
on another man's letter." The Postmaster 
said : "There is no other George W. Jones about 
here. Open the letter, and if it is not for you, I 
will give you back your money." I did so and 
read as follows : 

My dear young Friend : 

A petition written by your brother-in-law, recom- 
mending Col. Grafton for Clerk of my Court has been 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 91 

sent to me, but as I recollect your courtesies to me 
when I attended your graduating exercises at Lex- 
ington, last July, where you acquitted yourself so 
creditably and where you so kindly had me elected as 
an honorary member of the Union Philosophical So- 
ciety of which you were then a Secretary, it affords me 
great pleasure to tender you the appointment of Clerk 
of my Court, in the place of my old friend. Col. Oliver, 
recently deceased. The appointment will aid you in 
your study of the law and put money in your purse. 
Your old and sincere friend, 

James H. Peck, Judge, etc. 

I accepted the office and performed its duties 
until after my marriage. I continued in the 
mercantile, smelting and mining business at Sin- 
sinawa Mound during my terms of this office. 

As the expiration of the time for which I had 
hired my men at Ste. Genevieve approached, I 
determined to suspend business for the winter 
and return to that town. I hired some boat 
builders and had them build for me two flat- 
bottomed or broad-horned boats in which to take 
my lead down to St. Louis, the Mississippi Eiv- 
er being then very low and there being no 
steamboats on which I could ship my lead. The 
water in the river that spring was higher by six 
or eight feet than I have ever seen it since, and 
in the summer and fall it became lower than I 
have ever known it to be. I also had a large 
skiff, or yawl, built at the same time and place. 



92 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

immediately opposite to the city of Dubuque. 
The place for that reason was known as "Boat 
Yard Hollow ' ' and it still bears that name. 

I dissuaded my uncle, William Shannon, from 
buying a horse, as he was about to do, to ride to 
St. Louis, and induced him to accompany me in 
my skiff, or yawl, to St. Louis, as I had a good 
cook and ten good oarsmen to row us down the 
river. In a few days I had my flat boats loaded 
with my lead at Galena, and soon followed them 
with my skiff, French voyageurs, and uncle. 
When we got out of Fever Eiver the wind was 
blowing and my uncle advised me to return. I 
did so; but after waiting awhile under the big 
willow trees the wind seemed to lull, and I or- 
dered my men aboard and we put out again. 
But the wind at once arising higher than ever, 
the white caps flying over us, my imcle said: 
' ' See there, now, you will sink your boat, drown 
your men and lose all your lead." I replied: 
''Let us think of our Susan and our Josephine ! " 

"D 3^our Josephine and your Susan!" 

(Susan was his wife and my mother's sister.) 

We reached St. Louis in a very few days, 
where I sold my boats and lead. Then I took a 
steamboat for Ste. Genevieve, drove up to my 
brother-in-law's house, kissed my sister, and 
her sweet little daughters, and declining a seat 
said I wanted to go to see Dr. and Mrs. Linn. 
Eeaching their house, where I was received with 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 93 

open arms, I again declined to take a chair, say- 
ing: "I want to go to see my Aunt Shannon." 
"Well, I'll go with you," said the dear Doctor, 
and so we left. At Aunt Shannon's I again 
refused a seat and said: "I want to see Jose- 
phine." The Doctor, my ever devoted friend, 
said : " I will go with you. ' ' And so he did. 

On approaching Mr. Gregoire's house, I saw 
the sweet Josephine standing in the back door 
of the house, draped in deep mourning, as I had 
never seen her before, her mother having died 
in my absence. On entering the parlor I asked 
her oldest sister if I could see Josephine. "Not 
now, George. Come to-night and take tea with 
us. Josephine has undertaken to cook dinner 
for the first time in her life, in the absence of 
Antoinette and Louise (two negro women) who 
are at the creek washing." I knew where she 
was, and immediately put through the dining- 
room to see her at the back door, which, how- 
ever, she had left for the kitchen, some twenty 
steps off, in the door of which she was standing. 
I ran to the door like a deer, threw my arms 
around her neck and kissed her sweet lips, she 
blushing charmingly at the time. I said : "Jose- 
phine, you know how devotedly I have loved 
you, ever since I first met you, at Carmelite 
Bossier's birthnight ball! I'll come to-night, 
and for the first and last time, will ask you to be 
my wife. ' ' I returned to the parlor and said to 
Dr. Linn: "Let's go. Doctor." 



94 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

I declined Miss Gregoire's invitation to tea; 
but immediately after supper at Mr. Scott's, I 
returned to Mr. Gregoire's and was met in the 
parlor by his lovely daughter. I repeated to her 
what I had said in the kitchen, and asked if she 
was willing to be my wife. She said: "Yes, if 
my father will give his consent. ' ' I again kissed 
her and after spending an hour or two longer 
with her I returned home. I had met Josephine 
at a ball, on the 29th of September, 1825, fell 
desperately in love with her, eo instanter, and 
have loved her devotedly ever since, and never 
more than at this moment. The next morning 
after breakfast I called to see her again and to 
ask her father's consent to marry her. I had to 
speak in the French language, as was usual with 
him. Upon my broaching the subject of my call 
he said : " I have a high regard for you, George, 
but Josephine is too young to get married ; she 
is not yet seventeen years old." I replied that 
I did not know her age myself, but that I had 
loved her ever since the first moment I had ever 
seen her and was anxious to make her my wife, 
having established myself in business at Sin- 
sinawa Mound. He said: ''Call again in the 
afternoon or evening and I will give an answer 
to your request." I thereupon returned to the 
parlor to see Miss Josephine. Mr. Gregoire 
immediately went to see Mr. Scott and my sis- 
ter, who said to him that I had never spoken to 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 95 

either of them on the subject, but that there was 
no young lady in the country whom they would 
sooner see me marry than Josephine, whose 
parents had always since her birth been their 
warm friends. After tea I again called upon 
Mr. Gregoire and in a very few days we had 
fixed the date for our marriage — January 7th, 
1829. 

I did not return to Sinsinawa Mound until the 
spring of 1831, when I resumed my farming and 
smelting operations. 

I omitted to state, in its proper place, that the 
Fox Indians came over to Sinsinawa Mound in 
the summer of 1828 and brought with them 
pieces of mineral from the locality of the pres- 
ent city of Dubuque to "swap", or exchange, 
for my store goods. I followed them and they 
took me down to the Mississippi River to what 
is now East Dubuque, where the landing has 
ever since been as at present. I found several 
canoes there, each having more or less mineral 
(lead ore) in them. The next day I came down 
with my ox-team and wagon for their ore, and I 
continued to do so until it was at length all re- 
moved. I then lashed two canoes together, 
forming a transport in which to cross my wagon 
and oxen to and from the other shore. I there- 
fore made the first wagon tracks and the first 
ferry to Dubuque, if not to any part of the State 
of Iowa. 



96 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

One day of that year, 1828, Mr. Thomas Jor- 
dan came to my furnace at Sinsinawa Mound 
and said he had been referred to me to give him 
information as to where he could locate to make 
a farm. I told him to follow my wagon tracks 
which would lead down to the Mississippi River, 
where there was a rich bottom of land and a 
good spring, and where I had lead stacked up 
for shipment to St. Louis. I told him that it 
was my claim but that I would give it to him if 
he would see to the shipping of my lead on 
steamboats, etc., when occasion should offer. 
He went down to the river, built himself a log 
house, and when the whites took possession of 
these Dubuque lead mines, in 1833, he estab- 
lished the first regular ferry here. In 1836 I 
bought back that farm and ferry from the 
widow and heirs of Thomas Jordan for fourteen 
thousand dollars. I sold about two-thirds of it 
to my old friend, Hon. Daniel Webster, at the 
rate of twenty thousand dollars."^ 

I had formed a warm friendship for Mr. Web- 
ster whilst I was a Delegate in Congress in 
1835-6, and at his instance he furnished the 
money and I entered wild lands in partnership 
with him. I sold him my share in Madison City, 
Wisconsin, for about three thousand dollars.^^^ 
I made some twenty thousand dollars in my 
land operations with him in about one year. He 
sold out to the Bank of the United States at 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 97 

Philadelphia for fifty thousand dollars. Nich- 
olas Biddle was the President of that bank. I 
afterwards became a brother United States 
Senator with Mr, Webster, and continued such 
until he resigned that position to become Secre- 
tary of State under Mr. Fillmore. On the day 
that he accepted the position he called me out of 
the Senate and said: "Mr. Fillmore has request- 
ed me to make up his cabinet and I have come to 
ask you (although we differ in politics) whom I 
should select from the Northwest." I replied: 
* ' It is a high compliment to me. My first choice 
would be, Henry S. Geyer of St. Louis; my 
second, Edward Bates; and my third, John 
Scott of St. Genevieve." ''That will do", he 
said, "and I thank you." He left me and im- 
mediately sent a telegram tendering Mr. Geyer 
the appointment of Secretary of War, which 
Mr. Geyer as promptly declined. He then sent 
a dispatch to Edward Bates of St. Louis, who 
was absent at the Springs in Virginia for his 
health. But his son forwarded the dispatch to 
him and he went to Washington and entered Mr. 
Fillmore's cabinet.^ ^^^ Mr. Geyer declined the 
appointment as he desired to become a Senator 
from Missouri, and was elected to the place the 
next winter. Edward Bates became Attorney- 
General under President Lincoln, in March, 
.1861. Thus I had the distinguished honor of 
making one of the members of Mr. Fillmore's 



98 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

cabinet, in July, 1849, being then the only Demo- 
cratic Senator from lowa."^ Mr. Webster died 
owing me about Fifteen Thousand Dollars 
($15,000.), but he had been a good friend to me 
and I never pressed him for its payment. 

About the 1st of June, 1836, as I walked down 
Pennsylvania Avenue, I met that great states- 
man [Mr. Webster] whom I saluted. 

In that slow, deliberate manner of his he said : 
' ' Good - morning, General George - W. - Jones, 
where - are - you - walking - so - rapidly - this - 
morning I" 

I replied: "I am going to the Department to 
see to the business of my constituents." 

''Can't - you - turn - around - and - walk - 
with - me - a - little - while - to - see - Mrs. Web- 
ster?" 

''Oh, yes", I replied, "certainly, sir, with a 
great deal of pleasure." 

He added: "I have some friends in Massa- 
chusetts who are making a great deal of money 
in this new Territory that you have induced 
Congress to establish, the name of which I for- 
get. ' ' 

"Wisconsin", I said. 

' ' Oh, yes ! that is it ' ', he said. " If I can raise 
the money, on what terms would you go in with 
me to enter public lands in the land office, lay 
off town sites, and engage in other land specula- 
tions?" 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 99 

I replied: ''Any terms that are reasonable, 
Mr. Webster." 

He asked : ' ' Will it be fair for me to furnish 
the money and you make the locations and di- 
vide equally ? ' ' 

' ' Oh yes ' ', said I, ' ' certainly. ' ' I would have 
been very glad to take twenty or thirty percent 
for my services. I returned home, and when I 
got back to Washington at the next session of 
Congress Mr. Webster's share of our specula- 
tions netted him about fifty thousand dollars, as 
he informed me, and myself about twenty thou- 
sand dollars. He had borrowed the money from 
the bank of the United States at Philadelphia 
through his old friend Nicholas Biddle. My 
friendship with John Quincy Adams, Daniel 
Webster, John C. Calhoun, Felix Grundy, and 
many other members of both houses of Con- 
gress, dated from the presentation of letters of 
introduction given me by my brother-in-law 
John Scott, who had been in Congress for eight 
years as Delegate and Eepresentative from the 
Territory and State of Missouri, respectively.^ ^^ 

After Millard Fillmore became President of 
the United States, on the decease of my old and 
warm personal Black Hawk War friend, Zach- 
ary Taylor, the first time I met him (President 
Fillmore) he said to me: ''As there is no Whig 
in Congress from Iowa, I want you to do me the 
favor to recommend to my cabinet, friends of 



100 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

my administration and party to fill the office in 
your State." I was afterwards consulted by 
the Cabinet of Mr. Fillmore, and I had many 
personal friends among the Whigs appointed to 
fill the various offices. Before he became Presi- 
dent, General Dodge and I called (at my 
suggestion and in opposition to General Dodge) 
upon President Taylor and asked him what he 
intended to do with the Democrats in Iowa hold- 
ing offices. He said: ''I will be frank with you 
gentlemen. I shall remove every man who 
voted against me whilst holding office." I re- 
plied: "There is one gentleman, Mr. Caleb H. 
Booth, who succeeded me in the office of Sur- 
veyor General after your election." ''That", 
he replied, ''is a different case. Do you wish 
him to be retained in office, Colonel?" address- 
ing me. ' ' Yes, sir, I do, as he is well qualified in 
every way, except that he is a Democrat and 
voted for General Cass." The president said: 
"He shall not be removed if you wish him re- 
tained"; and he kept his word, voluntarily 
given me, and continued General Booth in office, 
although strenuous efforts were made to have 
him removed.^ ^^ President Taylor knew me 
well during the Black Hawk War, when I was 
General Henry Dodge's aid-de-camp; and he 
died my warm friend. 

The Hon. John M. Clayton, of Delaware, who 
was Secretary of State under President Taylor, 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY IQl 

was a very warm friend of mine and consulted 
me as to appointments and removals made in 
Iowa. He was Chairman of the Judiciary Com- 
mittee in the Senate whilst I was the Delegate 
in Congress from Michigan, and he gave me his 
potential influence in all my bills before the 
Senate. Hence I used my best efforts with Iowa 
legislators in having a county named for him 
and one for his State. For similar reasons, I 
had counties named for my devoted friends, Dr. 
Linn, General Jackson, James Buchanan, 
Thomas H. Benton, General Lewis Cass, Martin 
Van Buren, Kobert E. Lee, and others. 

When I went to Washington City as a Dele- 
gate to Congress from Michigan Territory, I 
was furnished with strong letters of introduc- 
tion from my brother-in-law, the Hon. John 
Scott, to many of his old friends and Congres- 
sional associates with whom he had served for 
eight years. ^-^ Among them were such noted 
men as John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, 
Daniel Webster, Martin Van Buren, and many 
others. 

Mr. Adams was a devoted and grateful friend 
to Mr. Scott, who had given him the vote of the 
State of Missouri to make him President of the 
United States, in February, 1825. That vote 
broke him down, however, politically and caused 
his defeat by Edward Bates for reelection as 
Representative from the State in 1826 — the 



102 GEOKGE WALLACE JONES 

people of the State being devoted to General 
Andrew Jackson as the chief competitor of Mr. 
Adams in the election by the House of Repre- 
sentatives. I went to Washington City from 
Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, with my life-long 
friend. Dr. Linn, then the colleague of Hon. 
Thomas H. Benton in the United States Senate. 
At the Relay House, a few miles out of Balti- 
more, we met Hon. James Buchanan, and the 
Hon. William R. King, of Alabama, afterwards 
Vice President of the United States during 
General Franklin Pierce's term. Dr. Linn in- 
troduced me to these two distinguished Senators 
and made them both my friends, which they 
continued to be as long as they lived. 

The next day (Sunday) after our arrival Mr. 
Linn and I went to the White House to pay our 
respects to the President, General Jackson. 
The old hero on being introduced to me as Dele- 
gate-elect from Michigan Territory immediately 
remarked: *'If you were from Missouri, Colonel 
George Jones, instead of Michigan, I would say 
that I had met you before at Lexington, Ken- 
tucky." "Yes, Mr. President, I am the same 
person, who acted as Sergeant of your Body 
Guard as you passed through Kentucky and 
Lexington on your way as Senator-elect from 
Tennessee, in November, 1823. I often called to 
see you with Stokely at Keene's Phoenix Hotel, 
during your short sojourn in that city, and I was 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 103 

one of the managers of the great dinner and ball 
that was given to you and your family on that 
memorable occasion. You were escorted 
through Lexington, Lafayette, and other coun- 
ties, by many of their admiring citizens and 
military companies. I recollect your family 
rode in a large carriage drawn by four blooded 
Packolet grey horses, driven by a negro man 
having a footman by his side, and that you had 
another negro man as avant courier who rode 
another grey Packolet, which you would occa- 
sionally get out and ride yourself, the negro 
outrider getting onto the carriage. Inside of 
the carriage were Mrs. Jackson, her niece. Miss 
Donaldson, and a negro girl lady's-maid." 
From that time on General Jackson was my 
friend, always addressing me as '^My son", and 
never refusing me any request that I made of 
him. 

When my bill passed to divide Michigan and 
establish the Territory of Wisconsin, I asked 
Honorable Messrs. Sevier and White, of Arkan- 
sas and Florida, respectively, the only two other 
Delegates then in Congress beside myself, how 
I should act to secure the appointments of Gov- 
ernor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, the 
three Supreme Judges, United States Attor- 
ney, Secretary, Marshal, Commissioners, etc. 
' ' Why ' ', replied Sevier, ' ' you can not get any of 
the offices for your constituents. White and I 



104 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

never got any one of those appointments for 
any of ours." White said: ''I never obtained 
a single office for any one of my friends in 
Florida. " ' ' But ' ', I replied, ' ' General Jackson 
is a warm personal friend of mine, always calls 
me his son, and I think he will allow me to have 
some of these fourteen or fifteen offices for some 
of my constituents." Sevier said: "General 
Jackson and my father were intimate and warm 
friends in Tennessee, and yet I have never had 
an office given to any one of my constituents." 
I left my colleagues, as we termed each other, 
went to my seat and wrote a letter to the Presi- 
dent of the United States, claiming that the 
offices created for the new Territory of Wiscon- 
sin should be conferred upon her citizens and 
not upon the citizens of the States, as had 
always been the custom. I sent my letter to 
President Jackson.^^^ The next day his private 
Secretary, Major Donaldson, came to my seat 
in the House and said: "Colonel Jones, the 
General wants to see you." "Wliat General 
wants to see me?" "General Jackson, the 
President of the United States. Didn't you 
write him yesterday a long and threatening 
saucy letter ? You have written him such a let- 
ter as no member of Congress dare write him". 
"I hope it was not considered threatening". 
"It was, and you have put the old hero into a 
rage; he is frothing at the mouth, and said. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 105 

'Donaldson, go and tell Colonel Jones to come 
and see me ; I want to see if lie can talk to me as 
fiercely as lie writes.' You had better go im- 
mediately and make your peace with the raging 
old man, if you expect to live in this city for the 
future." Donaldson saw that I was alarmed, 
and wished to add to my fears, which he did, for 
I well knew how the General was respected and 
feared by all who knew him. 

I immediately went out of the House, jumped 
into a hack, and ordered the driver to take me to 
the White House. I asked the messenger at the 
President's door if I could see his Excellency. 
' ' Y^es, sir, he is alone and is expecting you. ' ' I 
entered, my knees trembling as I approached 
the dreaded man. He was sitting with his two 
feet on the table and smoking a corn cob pipe 
with a cane stem four or five feet long. He said 
"Come in, my son, take a seat", in the kindest 
and most affectionate terms. I immediately sat 
down, as I would have fallen if I had not, I was 
so frightened at Donaldson's made-up story. 
He said: "I have received and read with inter- 
est your letter (which does honor to your head 
and heart) on the subject of the appointments 
to office, in the new Territory of Wisconsin. 
These offices are of great importance, and ever 
since the organization of Territories have been 
given to the citizens of the States. The Gov- 
ernor, for instance, is ex-officio Commissioner 



106 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

and Superintendent of Indian Affairs and Com- 
mander of the Militia of the Territory. Have 
you any constituent qualified to fill such an 
office?" ''Yes, Mr. President, I have the best 
man in the United States for that office, a man 
who has the confidence of and is believed by the 
people." "What's his name!" inquired the 
President. ' ' General Henry Dodge ' ', I replied. 
Looking up to the ceiling of his room, he said: 
"I don't know of any General Dodge." I re- 
plied: "He is the man, Mr. President, whose 
aid-de-camp I was in the Black Hawk War and 
who put an end to that war. He is now Colonel 
of the First Regiment of the United States 
Dragoons. " " Oh ' ', said the President, ' ' is that 
the man you want?" "Yes, sir, and he is the 
man my constituents want, although they do not 
yet know the bill creating the Territory has 
passed." "Well, my son, you shall have him, 
notwithstanding that my Cabinet are opposed 
to your having any of these appointments. 
Make me now a list of all the offices to be filled 
in Wisconsin and bring it to me. I will give you 
the privilege of naming most of them." I 
thanked him most heartily, and leaving the old 
veteran, felicitated myself upon my good for- 
tune. 

The next day I returned to see the President 
with a list of offices to be filled by him, with the 
salary attached to each. He read it over care- 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 107 

fully and said: "I'll give you the right to name 
all of these offices except the judges, who are the 
expounders of the law, etc., although my Cab- 
inet will be greatly opposed to my doing so. 
And you may go over to the State Department 
and look over the recommendations on file there 
for judges in Wisconsin. You may select the 
chief and one other justice. The third I prom- 
ised to give our minister to France, Mr. Rives, 
for Judge Irvin. ' ' 

I again took my leave, with a heart overflow- 
ing with gratitude and pride, and went directly 
into the office of Mr. Forsyth, of Georgia, the 
Secretary of State, and said that I wanted to 
see the recommendations on file for judges in 
Wisconsin. Mr. Forsyth said: "Those files are 
sacred and not to be seen by any one except a 
cabinet officer." 

"Why, Mr. Secretary", I replied, "The Pres- 
ident has just given me permission to see these 
recommendations. ' ' 

"Well, sir, you can see them all." His clerk, 
Mr. Cheever, was summoned in, to whom he 
said: "Take Colonel Jones into your office and 
show him all the recommendations on file for 
the offices of judges in Wisconsin." Mr. Cheev- 
er replied by reminding Secretary Forsyth that 
those papers were never seen except by the 
President and members of his Cabinet. ' ' ' Old 
Hickory' has given Colonel Jones the privilege 



108 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

and it would cost you and me our offices if we 
refused it to the Delegate from the Territory. ' ' 

The next day or two thereafter, as I entered 
the Senate Chamber, I was stopped by Mr. 
Buchanan, who called Senator Clayton and 
Linn, of Missouri, to hear what he had to say to 
me. "This morning I called upon my good 
friend, President Jackson, to get him to appoint 
my old friend Mr. Frazer to a judgeship in the 
new Territory of Wisconsin, which this young 
gentleman has induced us to create. General 
Jackson, who tendered me the appointment of 
Secretary of State when he was elected to the 
Presidency in 1829, said, 'If you want your 
friend appointed you must get Colonel Jones, 
the Delegate, to recommend him to me. He pro- 
tests against the appointment of any man to 
office in this new Territory unless he is recom- 
mended by himself. If he will recommend your 
friend, Mr. Buchanan, I will appoint him, and 
not otherwise, as I have so promised him'. I 
have been some twenty years in Congress and I 
have now to come, cap in hand, to this young 
gentleman to get his consent to the appointment 
of an old and worthy friend to office in this new 
Territory. Now, Clayton, you are an old friend 
of Frazer 's and I want you to speak a good 
word in his behalf to your friend Colonel 
Jones." 

"Well, Colonel", said Clayton, "I have noth- 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 109 

ing to do with these damned Loco Focos, but as 
you and I are good friends, I will say that 
Frazer is one of the best lawyers that I have 
ever known. We have practised together in 
Delaware and Pennsylvania for the past twenty 
years. He would do honor to your Territory 
and its courts if appointed one of your judges. 
He is a splendid gentleman, and my only ob- 
jection to him is that, like our friend Buchanan, 
he is a Loco Foco in politics. His appointment 
would do honor to the Supreme Court of the 
United States." 

"Well", said I, '4t is not far to Lancaster. 
Write to your friend, Mr. Frazer, to come here 
that I may see him and that I may be enabled to 
tell my constituents that I know the man whom 
I may recommend for their judge." Mr. Bu- 
chanan wrote to his friend, Mr. Frazer, and in a 
few days he called at my lodgings at Dawson's 
boarding house and introduced his friend to me. 
I was delighted with his dignified bearing, and 
invited him and Mr. Buchanan to dine with me 
that day. Mr. Buchanan, having a previous en- 
gagement, declined, but Mr. Frazer accepted 
and dined with me that evening at six o'clock. 
He refused to drink any of our various wines, 
saying that he had not tasted any kind of spirits 
for twenty years. After sitting with me for an 
hour or so at the table, I said: '^Mr. Frazer, I 
will send a note this evening to the President 



110 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

and you will be appointed a judge of the Su- 
preme Court to-morrow." 

As I stated, lie was appointed, and I gave him 
letters of introduction to my friends in Wis- 
consin whom I had had appointed to the offices 
of Governor, Secretary, and Marshal, and to 
other citizens. He reached Wisconsin before I 
did and went to the hotel, at Mineral Point, of 
Mrs. McArthur, the sister of Mr. Linn and the 
half-sister of Governor Dodge. On reaching 
there Mrs. McArthur received him cordially, 
saying that George had written and told her 
all about him. He complained to her that the 
waters of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers had 
affected his bowels, and that he was then suffer- 
ing considerable pain. She stepped out into her 
pantry and soon returned with a large glass of 
strong hot brandy milk-toddy with a little laud- 
anum in it and gave it to the judge, sa\T.ng that 
it would relieve him. If she had told him that 
the glass had brandy in it he would not have 
touched it. But he drank it and was greatly re- 
lieved of his pain. He, however, went from Mrs. 
McArthur 's private parlor into the bar room, 
called for some liquor, and that day became in- 
toxicated, and continued to drink during his 
term of office, the people meantime sending me 
petitions pra^dng for his removal from office. 
The day after reaching Mrs. Mci\.rthur's he had 
gone to Church, and in the absence of the min- 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY HI 

ister, read the Episcopal service, although very 
much under the influence of liquor. I showed 
the letters and petitions which I received from 
the people, at the next session of Congress, to 
my good friends Buchanan and Clayton, who 
were greatly surprised, as neither of them had 
ever heard of Mr. Frazer drinking anything for 
over twenty years before and during their in- 
timate acquaintance with him. 

At the earnest entreaty of my old and valued 
friend. Governor John Reynolds of Illinois, and 
his colleagues in the House of Representatives, 
I also nominated Captain Charles Dunn of 
Southern Illinois for Chief Justice of the Su- 
preme Court of Wisconsin. I had never been 
introduced to him, although I had served with 
him in the Black Hawk War and recollected see- 
ing him lying at the point of death with a gun 
shot wound through his body. I knew, too, that 
he had married Mary Shrader, the daughter of 
Judge Otto Shrader, who had resided at Ste. 
Genevieve, Missouri. Mary was educated, upon 
the death of her father, who had died poor, by 
my father, brother-in-law, and Governor Dodge, 
who paid her expenses at a school in Kentucky. 
How strange! This Judge Charles Dunn, al- 
though a learned lawyer, was greatly addicted 
to the intemperate use of liquor; . . . . 
but he never touched liquor during the sessions 
of his court and was esteemed most highly by 



112 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

the bar and all who knew him. We became de- 
voted friends, he having introduced himself to 
me when we met as stage passengers in Illinois 
a few weeks after I had had him made Judge 
of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. 

In the fall of 1842 I was summoned as a grand 
juror in Grant county, Wisconsin, and on call- 
ing to see the judge at his hotel, he said he noted 
that I had been drawn as a grand juror and 
would, the next morning, appoint me as fore- 
man ; and he did so, although I begged him not 
to, as I had never been on a jury in my life. 
Upon his invitation, I slept with him during that 
service as foreman of the jury. As we were 
about to retire, he asked me how I was getting 
on at farming. "Badly", I said, "as all that I 
raise costs me twice as much as it is worth.'' 
"What is your chance for restoration to the 
office of Surveyor General?" (I had been re- 
moved from this office by President Tyler on the 
4tli of July, 1841). "I have no doubt but that I 
shall be restored to the office if Mr. Van Buren, 
as is now expected, shall be re-nominated and 
reelected President of the United States", I re- 
plied. 

"Well", he continued, "You made me Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, and 
I am glad of the opportunity of returning, in a 
slight degree, the favor you conferred upon me. 
My Clerk, Mr. McSherry, is in the last stages of 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 113 

consumption and his physicians say is about to 
die. I will be glad to appoint you as his suc- 
cessor. I understand you are poor, and a clerk- 
ship is worth at least twice as much as the Sur- 
veyor General's office." The next morning at 
about sunrise he asked me if I was awake. 
"Yes, Judge, I have not slept a moment all 
night. " ' ' Were you ill r ' '' No, but I thought 
all night of your generous offer to make me your 
clerk, and as I was once made clerk of a United 
States Court at Ste. Genevieve, I will accept 
your offer." 

In a day or so after I returned home to Sin- 
sinawa Mound he sent to me my commission by a 
lawyer friend of his of the name of Lattimer, 
who would go to Mineral Point and take charge 
of the office for me, pending the removal of my 
family thither, Mr. McSherry having died a day 
or two before.^-- I entered upon the discharge 
of the duties of my office as clerk and continued 
the same until March, 1845, when I was restored 
to the office of Surveyor General by my old and 
noble friend. President J. K. Polk, at the in- 
stance of General Henry Dodge, who was then 
the Delegate in Congress from Wisconsin, 
President Polk sent word to General Dodge by 
Senator Lucius Lyon of Michigan that he 
wished to see him. The General called and the 
President asked him what he wished to have 
done with the office holders in Wisconsin. The 

8 



114 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

General thanked him and said : ' ' I desire to see 
my friend General Jones restored to the office 
of Surveyor General of Wisconsin. ' ' The Pres- 
ident looked into the blue book and remarked 
that there was no such office in Wisconsin. 
''The office is located at Dubuque, in Iowa", 
said the General, turning over the page. The 
President asked: ''Is this General George W. 
Jones the same man whom I knew well as Col- 
onel George W. Jones, the Delegate in Congress 
from Michigan?" "He is the same." The 
President remarked : ' ' That young gentleman is 
well known by Mrs. Polk and myself, as he has 
been for 35 years and is esteemed by us as a 
younger brother or son. He can have any office 
that he desires at my hands. " " He only wishes 
to be restored to the office to which he was ap- 
pointed by President Van Buren in December, 
1839. "123 

General Albert G. Ellis, whom I had appoint- 
ed as Surveyor General in July, 1838, when I 
had the office created, determined to resign, and 
came to my house at Sinsinawa Mound and said 
to me that as I had secured the appointment for 
him in July, 1838, he thought it was proper that 
he should recommend me as his successor. He 
urged my acceptance of the same, to which I 
consented. He wrote his letter of resignation 
and sent it to the President of the United 
States, Mr. Martin Van Buren, through the 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 115 

Honorable Lewis F. Linn, the ''Model Senator 
from Missouri", and I was renominated to the 
office and confirmed by the Senate unanimously 
on the same day that Mr. Linn received General 
Ellis' resignation of the office. 

In the spring of 1832, at the outbreak of the 
Black Hawk "War, I built a log fort or block 
house for the protection of my family (consist- 
ing of my wife, children, some ten or twelve 
slaves, and fifteen or twenty hired men) and 
neighbors. My wife being very much afraid of 
Indians, I sent her with our servant Charlotte 
to Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, her old home. 

Thomas McKnight, the then agent of the lead 
mines, sent an express messenger informing me 
that my brother-in-law, Mr. Felix St. Vrain, the 
Agent of the Sac and Fox Indians at Rock 
Island, had either been taken prisoner or was 
killed by a war party some thirty miles east of 
Galena, with four or five other white men en 
route from Fort Dixon to Galena. I immediate- 
ly mounted my horse, and with my holsters, 
double-barrelled shot-gun and sword, put out 
for Galena to accompany a command of cavalry 
which was to leave that place in pursuit of the 
Indians. On my arrival at Galena, about four 
or five hours after the cavalry company had left, 
my friends endeavored to dissuade me from go- 
ing alone, as I would not be able to overtake 
the horse company and might be murdered. 



116 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

But I persisted in going and overtook the cav- 
alry company, commanded by Captain Stephen- 
son, near where the party had been murdered 
by the Indians. I found the mutilated body of 
Mr. St. Vrain, his head, feet, hands and heart 
having been cut off and out, and the most of the 
flesh of the body, by the Indians, who took them 
to their headquarters, where they ate his flesh, 
having very little food, and gave his heart, cut 
up into small bits of pieces, to their young boys 
to swallow without chewing. He was consid- 
ered the bravest who could swallow the largest 
piece. 

These facts were communicated to me by 
Madam Mayott, the French interpretress for 
the Winnebagoes. She had in charge two young 
ladies, the Misses Hall, who had been taken 
prisoners by the Sacs and Foxes, and who were 
afterwards returned to their friends in Illinois 
through the influence of my chief. General 
Dodge. 

I found the body of Mr. St. Vrain and knew it 
by the color of his hair, which was black, and 
by his clothing, his papers, money, etc. They 
did not even take his money, silver, gold, or 
notes. He was a stout man and as the Indians 
cut off most of his flesh for food, his body was 
very much decomposed, and was being eaten by 
carrion crows, which we saw flying around and 
over the body. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 117 

The story of the massacre is as follows : — It 
seems that Mr. St. Vrain could easily have made 
his escape, as Mr. Higgenbotham, Mr. Frederick 
Stahl, and another man did, for he (Mr. St. 
Vrain) rode a very fine horse which he tried in 
vain to stop, hallooing to the Indians that he 
was their ^'father" (agent). They answered, 
"We don't care who yon are", and kept shoot- 
ing at him, one ball entering the back of his 
neck and breaking the bone. In that skirmish 
Mr. St. Vrain and three others were killed and 
scalped, and three made good their escape. 
The Indians took the head, feet and hands of 
Mr. St. Vrain to their headquarters near Lake 
Koshkonong, and used them in their war dances 
as trophies. A big chief swung Mr. St. Vrain 's 
head between his knees while the other Indians 
held and brandished his hands and feet in their 
dances. 

When the savages were first discovered, 
drawn up in battle array, Mr. St. Vrain ad- 
vised his companions not to attempt to make 
their escape by flight, as the Indians knew the 
country well, but to follow him up to them, add- 
ing that when they recognized him as their 
agent, who had always been exceedingly kind to 
them, they would not do them harm. But one of 
the whites in the rear got frightened, turned his 
horse, and tried to make his escape. The In- 
dians then gave the war whoop, frightened the 



118 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

rest of the party, and gave chase. Black Hawk 
became incensed at Mr. St. Vrain, believing that 
he had gone down to St. Louis and brought up 
Gen'l Atkinson and the army, as Mr. St. Vrain 
had been passenger with them from St. Louis. 
He urged Gen'l Clark, the Superintendent of 
Indian Affairs, and the government authorities, 
not to make war against the Indians, but to give 
him provisions, blankets, tobacco, &c., that he 
might make presents to the Indians in that way. 
He thought he could induce Black Hawk and his 
band to cross back from Illinois into what is 
now Iowa, west of the Mississippi, and save the 
horrors of a bloody Indian war and many mas- 
sacres. 

I met Col. Henry Dodge that day, thirty-five 
or forty miles east of Galena with his command, 
and we were together the most of the day. He 
expressed great surprise that I had ridden alone 
through the woods and Indian country at the 
imminent risk of my life. We had not met for 
nearly a year, and were pleased to see each 
other. 

A few days after this meeting, his son, Cap- 
tain H. L. Dodge, and his adjutant, W. W. 
Woodbridge, came to my house one night with a 
message from General Dodge, requesting me to 
join his command and to act as his aid-de-camp. 
I felt highly complimented and readily assented, 
mounted my horse, armed with my double- 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 119 

barrelled shotgun, my holsters and pistols and 
sword, and rode with them to Fort Union, Gen- 
eral Dodge's place of residence. He received 
me most cordially and said: ''I have received 
an order from General Henry Atkinson, com- 
mander of the Army, to take command of 
General Posey's brigade of Illinois Militia, and 
I want a man upon whom I can rely to act as my 
aid-de-camp." We were brother officials and 
friends at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, where I was 
the Clerk of the United States Court, and he the 
Marshal of the State. He said ; ' ' Your brothers 
John and Augustus, and your two brothers-in- 
law, John and Andrew Scott, served under me 
in the War of 1812." 

The next morning we set out together for the 
encampment of General Posey's brigade. He 
pointed out to me the place where Mr. Auber 
had been shot and scalped by a party of Indians, 
a few moments after he (General Dodge) met 
him. It seems that Auber kept along the big 
wagon road after passing the General, whilst 
the latter had taken the near cut and path, the 
hypothenuse of the right angle. General Dodge 
was thus saved and Auber lost his life. Before 
reaching Captain William S. Hamilton's resi- 
dence. General Dodge heard the discharge of 
rifles, and in a few moments Auber 's horse came 
running back and passed General Dodge, who 
saw the blood of Auber on the horse. He gal- 



120 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

loped up to Hamilton's residence and gave the 
order to saddle up and mount horses. He then 
gave chase to the eighteen or twenty Indians, 
overtook them crouched under the bank of the 
Pecatonica River, and charged upon them. He 
killed their chief with his belt pistol, his rifle 
having got wet in crossing the creek. His son- 
in-law. Captain Paschal Bequette, in that battle 
shot and killed two of the war party, and so 
gained the friendship of the General. 

As we rode together I saw a man run into 
Colonel Hamilton's house and fort, and soon 
saw Hamilton (son of Alex. Hamilton, who was 
killed by Aaron Burr) emerge and run after us, 
hallooing to us to stop. I told General Dodge 
that Hamilton was following us and beckoning 
us to stop. He said: '^Damn him, I do not care 
about seeing him. ' ' But I advised him to stop 
and he halted, but did not turn his horse. Col- 
onel Hamilton came up and spoke to the 
General, who threw his leg over his horse, and 
drawing out his two pistols and marching up to 
Hamilton, offered him the butt ends of his pis- 
tols, saying, ''Take your choice, sir, take your 
choice ' ', and advancing all the time as Hamilton 
walked back and holding up his hands said, 
' ' General, I do not want to fight. ' ' The General 
then said, "Damn you, obey my orders here- 
after", and then jumped on his splendid horse 
(Big Black), and we rode up to the encampment 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 121 

of General Posey's Brigade and to the Gen- 
eral's head quarters. 

He told General Posey of the order he had re- 
ceived from General Atkinson through Colonel 
Davenport of the U. S. Army, to transfer Po- 
sey's Brigade to him; but he said: "I will not 
take the command of your troops unless they 
will voluntarily elect me over you as their com- 
mander. Have your brigade drawn up in a 
hollow square that I may address them." The 
hollow square was formed and Generals Dodge 
and Posey addressed them. General Dodge 
said: "If you choose to elect me as your com- 
mander, I will lead you to victory, if we can 
overtake Black Hawk and his army." General 
Posey made a pathetic appeal to his command, 
imploring them not to disgrace and forever ruin 
him by voting for a stranger to be their com- 
mander. The voting resulted, by one company 
majority of Major John Dement 's battalion, in 
favor of General Posey's remaining as their 
commander. After the election was over, I saw 
an officer on horseback making a speech to his 
men and I rode up to see and hear what was go- 
ing on. It was Major John Dement, a stranger 
to me, upbraiding his company or battalion, for 
not voting for General Dodge, who would lead 
them on to victory and retrieve the honor which 
a short time before they had lost in an Indian 
fight under Posey. He said : " I am ashamed of 



122 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

you and have a mind to resign my command." 
Some man sung out : ' 'Do, do. ' ' He took off his 
cap and taking out his commission as their Ma- 
jor, tore it into pieces, threw it down, and spat 
on it. 

The next winter. Miss Mary Dodge, the fourth 
daughter of General Dodge, went to Vandalia 
to spend the season with her Aunt, Mrs. W. 
Linn (a cousin of General Dodge) and there be- 
came acquainted with this same Major Dement, 
who fell in love with her and married her. They 
had a large family of children, one of whom, 
Henry Dodge Dement, was for several years the 
Secretary of the State of Illinois. His mother, 
Mrs. Dement, died in her home at Dixon, a few 
years since. I could relate many anecdotes of 
General Dodge and his family, but it would spin 
out this narrative to too great a length. 

After the Black Hawk War, a committee was 
sent to me at my home at Sinsinawa Mound, 
informing me that I had been nominated as can- 
didate for Colonel to succeed General Dodge as 
commander of the militia of Iowa County, in 
Michigan, against Captain William S. Hamilton 
(above mentioned), a son of Alexander who was 
a member of General Washington's cabinet. I 
promptly declined the nomination, saying that 
although I had been General Dodge's aid-de- 
camp I knew but little of military affairs and 
that I had much business at home to attend to. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 123 

The two gentlemen after spending the night 
with me returned to Mineral Point, and a few 
days thereafter the newspapers announced my 
election by a large majority, and my commission 
as Colonel was sent to me by Secretary of State 
Stevens T. Mason, under Governor Porter at 
Detroit, Michigan. Mason had been my college 
mate at Transylvania University, in Lexington, 
Kentucky. 

A short time thereafter I went to Mineral 
Point to organize a horse company of which my 
noble, brave, and generous friend Henry L. 
Dodge was elected Captain. Whilst out upon 
the prairie organizing the Company, a com- 
mittee of lawyers came out to inform me that I 
had been nominated and unanimously elected at 
a large meeting of lawyers, jurors, and litigants 
as Chief Justice to succeed General Henry 
Dodge, who had left the country and gone to the 
South-West as Commander of the First Regi- 
ment of United States Dragoons. I was with 
General Dodge in the war when he received his 
commission as Major of the United States 
Dragoons and induced him to accept the ap- 
pointment.^-'* The committee insisted upon my 
going down to the meeting. I did so, and em- 
phatically declined to accept the nomination, as 
I already held the most important office in the 
County. Besides that, I was no lawyer. 
Messrs. John Turney, Ben Mills, and Charles 



124 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

S. Hempstead, attorneys of Galena, Illinois, 
made speeches complimenting me and urging me 
to accept the nomination, but I persisted in de- 
clining, and the meeting nominated the Hon. 
James Murphy, of Horse Shoe Bend, as the can- 
didate for Chief Justice. The proceedings of 
the meeting were published in the Galena papers 
and sent by the Committee to Governor George 
B. Porter at Detroit. As soon as the mail could 
go to Detroit and return, it brought back my 
commission as Chief Justice, sent me by my old 
college friend, Stevens T. Mason aforemen- 
tioned. Secretary of State. Mason wrote me 
that he induced the Governor to commission me, 
and insisted upon my accepting the appoint- 
ment. I finally accepted, at the earnest solicita- 
tion of lawyers and mutual friends, and went 
regularly to Mineral Point and sat upon the 
bench with my old and valued friend Major 
Jolm H. Roundtree, who came to the Territory 
to reside, as I did, in 1827, who had served as a 
Captain in the Black Hawk War, and who died 
at Platteville a few years ago greatly lamented 
by his fellow citizens and admiring countrymen. 
As I was riding to Galena one day I heard voices 
out in the bushes at Meeker's Grove. It was 
Mr. Roundtree and his partner, Mr. Campbell, 
who were exchanging their mining for their best 
clothes preparatory to going into Galena, where 
Mr. Roundtree was that dav to be married. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 125 

In September, 1835, while at Mineral Point, 
holding court, a large meeting of the people had 
been called to nominate a candidate for Delegate 
to Congress from the Territory of Michigan. I 
was unanimously nominated over David Irvin, 
one of the judges of the United States court who 
had been appointed to the place from Virginia 
by President Andrew Jackson, on his accession 
to the Presidency, vice James Duane Doty whom 
he removed. Charles Bracken wished me to de- 
cline in favor of Judge Irvin, saying he was 
well known in the peninsula and could be elected 
without doubt. 

Bracken had asked me to carry a challenge to 
Captain Daniel Parkinson, with whom he had 
quarreled, but I declined to act as his second. 
This made him cool toward me ever after. 

The people of Michigan had formed a State 
government within the peninsula and elected 
Hon. Lucius Lyon and John Norvell as Sena- 
tors, and Hon. I. E. Crary as their Representa- 
tive in Congress, and did not desire to interfere 
in the election of a Delegate. 

I accepted the nomination and had as my com- 
petitors Hon. Morgan L. Martin of Green Bay, 
Hon. James D. Doty, and the Hon. W. W. Wood- 
bridge, United States Judge at Detroit, [who] 
was opposed to a State Government. The elec- 
tion was held in October. Receiving a large ma- 
jority of the votes, I went on to Washington and 



126 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

was sworn in as Delegate. My seat was contest- 
ed by Woodbridge, because the returns from 
that portion west of Lake Michigan and the Mis- 
sissippi did not reach Detroit in time. The 
House of Representatives did not hesitate, how- 
ever, to give me the seat. I soon introduced the 
bill to create the Territory of Wisconsin, and 
went to work to get that bill through, although 
the Senators and Representatives from the 
State told me I need not try to get it passed be- 
fore they were sworn in from the State govern- 
ment. I said : " I '11 try to do so, anyway. ' ' I did 
get it passed, and had the Territory of Wis- 
consin organized on the 4th of July, 1836, before 
Michigan was admitted under the act of Con- 
gress — the first time that such a thing was 
ever accomplished in the United States. I rep- 
resented, as Delegate, all of the country which 
now embraces the States of Michigan, Wiscon- 
sin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North and 
South Dakota, Washington, Oregon, or all the 
territory north of the States of Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois and Missouri and clear to the Pacific 
Ocean — a larger district than any man has 
ever represented in the United States Con- 
gress.^ --^ My three competitors, Martin, Doty, 
and Woodbridge, were distinguished men, two 
having been judges in the United States courts 
and all three afterwards elected as Wliig Sen- 
ators from Michigan. Doty was appointed as 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 127 

Governor of the Territory of Wisconsin by 
President Tyler, vice Governor Dodge. I was 
three times elected as Delegate to Congress 
from Wisconsin Territory and Michigan, each 
time for two years.^-^ 

In 1837 I introduced without any petition 
from the people, a bill in Congress to divide the 
Territory of Wisconsin and to establish the 
Territory of Iowa. Not being a speaker, I car- 
ried my bill through Congress by personal 
appeals to the members of the Senate and 
House. I found an able opponent to it in the 
Hon. John C. Calhoun, a Senator from the State 
of South Carolina, ex- Vice-President of the 
United States, and one of the most influential 
and powerful men in Congress. He told me 
that he had the highest regard for me as a man, 
but that he could never give his consent to the 
formation of a new Territory which in a few 
years would become a powerful abolition State. 
I replied that there was not, that I knew of, a 
single abolitionist in the whole of the proposed 
Territory of Iowa ; that I myself was the owner 
of ten or twelve slaves, and that I was as much 
opposed to abolitionism as he was. He said: 
''I know, my son, that you are all right on this 
question, but wait until western Ohio, New 
York, and New England shall pour their popu- 
lation into that section, and you will see Iowa 
some day grow to be the strongest abolition 



128 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

State in the Union. I shall not live to see it, in 
all probability, but you almost certainly will." 
This was in the winter of 1837 and proved what 
a prophet John C. Calhoun was, as Iowa did 
afterwards become the strongest Eepublican 
State in the Union. 

That winter I escorted Miss Anna Calhoun 
home to her father's boarding house, at the cor- 
ner of D and Eighth Streets, near Pennsylvania 
Ave., from a party which was given by Senator 
Linn and myself at the corner of B and Third 
Streets, Washington City. As we waited at the 
door for the porter at about 12 or 1 o'clock. Miss 
Calhoun said: ''General, I do not know how I 
can ever return the compliments and favors you 
have shown me. ' ' 

"You can. Miss Calhoun, do me a great ser- 
vice. To-morrow my bill to establish the Terri- 
tory of Iowa is to be considered in the Senate, 
it having already passed the House. Your fa- 
ther, although my good friend, is opposed to my 
bill. To-morrow morning, when he comes down 
to breakfast, put your lovely arm around his 
neck and ask him to vote for my bill. ' ' She was 
a very beautiful, accomplished, and talented 
young lady and the idol of her father. 

''I'll do my best. General, and I know I shall 
succeed, as my father never refuses me any- 
thing. ' ' 

"Well", I said, "Miss Calhoun, I'll come to 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 129 

see you to-morrow forenoon at about 11 o 'clock 
to hear what your success may have been." I 
went as I had promised, when she told me that 
her father said that his constituents would 
never forgive him if he should consent to the 
passage of that bill, to lay the foundation of 
another abolition State, although he would be 
very glad to serve me as he had high regard for 
me. I thanked her and said : ' ' I will now go and 
send your admirer, our mutual friend, Mr. C. 
G. Clemson, to escort you to the Senate; take 
your seat over Colonel Benton's on the Demo- 
cratic side. When I send you my card, come 
down, send your card for your father, and take 
him into the library and keep him there until I 
call for you." She replied: ''General, I'll do 
my utmost to serve you." 

When the Senate proceeded to business I was 
called by Clayton of Delaware, Chairman of the 
Judiciary Committee, and Walker of Missis- 
sippi, Chairman of the Committee of Public 
Lands, and seated between them. After getting 
my bills through to establish two new land dis- 
tricts, one at Burlington and the other at 
Dubuque, and several other bills, I called a page 
and told him to take my card to Miss Calhoun, 
whom I pointed out to him, and to wait on her. 
He went up with my card, and I saw him deliver 
it. Soon she was escorted to the door of the 
Senate by Mr. C. G. Clemson, and sent her card 



130 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

to her father, and I saw him get up and walk 
out of the Senate. "Now", said I, ''Senator 
Clayton, please call up my bill to establish the 
Territory of Iowa." In a few minutes my bill 
was passed, Iowa was a Territory, and the Sen- 
ate adjourned. I walked into the library, where 
Mr. Calhoun, his daughter and Mr. Clemson 
were. Mr. Calhoun asked me : ' ' What was go- 
ing on in the Senate ? " I replied : ' ' The Senate 
has adjourned and the bill to create Iowa has 
been jjassed. " Then turning to his daughter 
he said : ' ' Oh, Anna, you bad girl, you have pre- 
vented my making a speech to oppose that bill, 
as I would have done and done successfully, as 
the time for the consideration of Territorial 
bills has expired." 

Mr. Clemson afterwards married Miss Cal- 
houn and they raised a family of ten children. 

On my return home my constituents gave me 
a fine dinner at the Waples House on the site 
now occupied by the new Julien House, and 
upon being toasted for having had Iowa created 
a separate Territory, I told of the circumstances 
of Miss Calhoun's aid, which caused great 
laughter and shouting. 

Mr. Van Buren, who was then the President 
of the United States, upon my questioning him 
as to the filling of the offices in Iowa, asked me 
what General Jackson had done for me in rela- 
tion to the appointments in Wisconsin, and said 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 131 

he would do as much for me as President Jack- 
son had done. And he did, allowing me to name 
all the offices for Iowa but one, the governor- 
ship. 

At that session of Congress, in 1837, General 
A. C. Dodge went East to purchase goods to be- 
come a merchant at or near Dodgeville. When 
calling on me at my lodgings at Dawson's, I 
introduced him to his uncle, Mr. Linn, whom he 
had known as a boy, and to Colonel Benton, 
Allen of Ohio, Hannegan, and all of our mess, 
and I made him stay with me as my guest and 
sleep with me. I took him to the galleries of the 
Senate and House of Eepresentatives, which he 
visited every day, hanging over the galleries 
listening to the speeches as they were delivered. 
He told me on that occasion of his being in love 
with Miss Clara Hertich, whom I had known all 
her life, of how they had become engaged whilst 
he attended school with her at her father's 
Academy. I asked him when he had heard from 
her. 

He replied : " I have never written to her. ' ' 

''Why?" 

''Because she is a very fine scholar and I a 
very indifferent one. She writes a beautiful 
hand, and I, as you know, a poor one. ' ' 

"Well", said I, "Augustus, you must (as we 
go home down the Ohio and up the Mississippi) 
stop over at Ste. Genevieve and marry Clara. ' ' 



132 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

He consented to do so. Before reaching Ste. 
Gene\ieve, I was informed by my old friend 
and groomsman, A. W. Kimmel, and the family 
of Judge Pratt, that Miss Clara Hertich had 
become engaged to marry Charles Bogy, the son 
of Judge Bogy, and the brother of Hon. L. V. 
Bogy, late United States Senator from Mis- 
souri. Augustus then said: "I'll not stop." I 
insisted upon his doing so and renewing his 
suit. He finally yielded to my advice, came up 
with me, and taking a horse rode out eight miles 
to Judge Hertich 's. The Judge kept a large 
and fashionable boarding school for young 
ladies and gentlemen. He arrived at Judge 
Hertich 's and was very cordial and friendly 
with Mrs. Hertich, but when Clara entered the 
room, he merely bowed to her. After the old 
lady had left to attend to her household affairs, 
he moved his chair up to Miss Clara and said : 
' * Now, my dear Clara, I have come to make you 
my wife." She replied: "You are too late, 
Augustus, for I am engaged to cousin Charles 
Bogy." Her mother just then re-entering, he 
moved his chair away and did not say anything 
further. 

That evening, as was usual, they had their 
dance in the school room and he was very at- 
tentive to Miss Clara. A few days afterwards, 
in earnest conversation with Miss Clara, he 
asked her if she had not loved him once. "Yes, 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 133 

Augustus, I have never loved any other man but 
you. But my mother and father are very much 
delighted at the idea of my marrying my half- 
cousin Charles ; and I would be only too happy 
to marry you if, as you say, my parents would 
give their consent to it. But it would break up 
a friendship that has existed for fifty years be- 
tween our families. ' ' Augustus persisted in his 
suit and got her brothers Joe and Charles, who 
were warm friends of his, but did not like 
Charles Bogy, to promise him their assistance 
in gaining her consent to elope. He still plead 
with her and said: ^'We will not ask your par- 
ents, but will cross the Mississippi to Kaskaskia 
and get married there." After a few days she 
consented. 

One day after dinner Augustus took leave of 
the family and all of the pupils, agreeing with 
her brothers and Clara that he should return at 
half -past ten that evening and go over to Kas- 
kaskia and get married. He went to Judge 
James ', four miles distant, to take tea, and told 
Judge James of his intention. Judge James 
was an old friend of his father's as well as a 
great friend of the Hertich and Bogy families, 
and of the Dodge family. The Judge, being a 
devout Catholic, said : ' ' Such a secret marriage 
will disgrace our church. Augustus, I will 
write a letter to Judge and Mrs. Hertich and 
try to induce them to give their consent, as I am 



134 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

sure they will not want Clara to marrj^ Charles 
if she loves you better." Augustus declined 
this suggestion, and said : " I must go back as I 
agreed, as they will all be waiting for me at half 
after ten o'clock." He persisted in his deter- 
mination, and the Judge went to the door and 
called to a negro man to saddle his horse, say- 
ing: "I shall send word immediately to Judge 
Hertich of your intentions." Augustus re- 
plied : ' ' If you will give me the letter I will take 
your advice and wait until morning." The 
Judge sat down and wrote a long letter to Judge 
and Mrs. Hertich to obtain their consent to 
Clara 's marrying Augustus. 

After saying the usual night prayers, Au- 
gustus was shown to his room. He waited until 
all the family were asleep, when he came down 
stairs in his stocking feet, went to the stables, 
saddled his horse, and rode off to Judge Her- 
tich 's. On reaching the house, the Judge's pack 
of hounds rushed out and barked fiercely at him. 
Clara's brothers quieted the hounds, and the 
party, consisting of Augustus and Clara, her 
older brother Joseph, her cousin Miss Vilar, 
Miss Coffman and Mr. H. Doran Jenkins, 
mounted their horses, rode down to the Mis- 
sissippi, and hallooed to the ferryman who lived 
on the Illinois side. The ferryman responded 
that he could not cross them that night as the 
river was rising rapidly, and being full of drift 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 135 

wood, their lives would be endangered, but 
would take them over in the morning at day- 
light, which he accordingly did — they staying 
all night in a deserted house. 

On reaching Kaskaskia in the morning, they 
stopped at a hotel and ordered breakfast, and 
Mr. Dodge went to the Clerk's office to get a 
license. Mr. Hughes, the clerk, asked him whom 
he was going to marry — ^'What is her name, 
and where does she live?" Augustus replied: 
''Miss Clara Hertich, residing in Missouri." 
He inquired her age, which was less than seven- 
teen. ''I must have the consent of her par- 
ents." "Well", said Augustus, "her parents 
live in Missouri. " " Then ' ', he replied, ' ' I can- 
not give you the license, as it is against the 
laws. I should have to pay $1,000 fine and lose 
my office. I care nothing for the office, but I 
have no one thousand dollars to lose. " " Welly 
Mr. Hughes, I will give you the name of my 
friend. General Jones, as security for the $1,000, 
if you are required to pay it." Then he said: 
"If General Jones will sign an indemnifying 
bond to that effect I will give you the license." 
As I had gone on to Wisconsin, Augustus could 
not get me to sign the bond. He then deter- 
mined to recross the Mississippi with his party 
and go to the residence of Judge Sircey, Justice 
of the Peace, an old friend of all the families 
interested, to get him to marry them. On reach- 



136 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

ing the residence of Judge Sircey, he found the 
Judge on his gallery, smoking a pipe. All of 
the party went into the house except Augustus, 
leaving him to talk to the old gentleman and try 
to induce him to perform the marriage cere- 
mony. Judge Sircey asked: "Do you want to 
marry Miss Coffman or Miss Vilar?" "No", 
said Augustus, "it is neither, it is Miss Clara". 
"Well", said the Judge, "I can not agree to 
marry you and incur the displeasure of my old 
friends, Judge Bogy and Judge Hertich." 

Augustus then went into the house and im- 
plored Mrs. Sircey to induce her husband to 
marry them, saying: "We'll go to Arkansas, 
Louisiana, to Texas or even to Mexico, before 
we will abandon our object." The old lady, a 
friend of all the families concerned, went out to 
the gallery and begged her husband to perform 
the ceremony, which after much entreaty he did. 

At the Hertich home the next morning at sun- 
rise, as was usual, Mrs. Hertich sent her little 
negro girl upstairs to tell Miss Clara to come 
down and give out the breakfast — the custom 
in the South. The little girl went up and re- 
turned, saying that Miss Clara was not there. 
She then sent the girl for an older servant to 
call Miss Clara, who on returning exclaimed, 
"Miss Clara nor the other young ladies are up 
in their rooms, nor have any of the beds been 
disturbed!" At this moment a negro man en- 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 137 

tered, saying: "Master, something strange was 
going on here last night. The dogs kept up a 
terrible barking about 11 o'clock, I thought it 
was a wolf or a coon or something of the sort, 
but on going into the stables this morning to 
curry the horses, I found that all the horses 
were gone, all the men's saddles, and the ladies' 
saddles, too. Master Joe's and Mister J. Doran 
Jenkins." It then flashed upon Mrs. Hertich 
that Clara had run off with J. Doran Jenkins, 
"the redheaded American", and she was in 
great distress at the thought. When the Judge 
entered the schoolroom that morning, he found 
on his desk a note from Augustus, saying they 
had gone to Kaskaskia to get married. He im- 
mediately despatched a colored man to Kaskas- 
kia on horseback with a note telling them to 
come back home. The colored man was told by 
the ferryman that they had gone on and he could 
follow their tracks. He did so and found them 
at Judge Sircey's residence, and the party all 
returned to Judge Hertich 's home. On reach- 
ing there, Mrs. Hertich sent off eight miles to 
the Catholic Church for a priest, who returned 
and married them. They thus had two mar- 
riages on the same day, as Mrs. Hertich did not 
consider the marriage of the Justice legal. 

On the 1st day of April, following, I rode into 
Galena from my residence at Sinsinawa Mound 
and met the aforesaid J. Doran Jenkins, who 



138 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

told me of the marriage of our mutual friends, 
Augustus Dodge and Clara Hertich, and that 
they were at Bennett's Hotel in Galena. I gal- 
loped down into the town, put my horse into a 
livery stable, and ran up the hill to Bennett's to 
greet the happy couple. Mr. Bennett told me 
they had just a short time before gone off to 
Dodgeville in a carriage. Seeing a horse 
hitched near by, I threw the bridle over his 
head, mounted him, and galloped off toward 
Dodgeville. I was followed by the owner of the 
horse which I had so boldly appropriated; but 
the more he hallooed, the faster I rode. About 
a mile from town I overtook the party in the 
carriage, where Clara, throwing her arms 
around Augustus ' neck, exclaimed : ' ' I owe you 
for my husband ! " I talked with them an hour 
or so, when they detailed to me the circum- 
stances related above. 

Augustus and his lovely wife lived happily 
together and had many children, amongst them 
the late Charles Jones Dodge, of the law firm of 
''Dodge and Dodge", Burlington. 

At the organization of the land office at Bur- 
lington, in 1838, I recommended and had 
General Augustus C. Dodge appointed Eegister 
of the Land Office at that place, the duties of 
which he performed so ably as to secure his 
election as the first democratic Delegate elected 
to the Congress of the United States, in 1840; 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 139 

and when his term expired as my colleague in 
the Senate of the United States, I induced 
President Pierce, my warm friend, to nominate 
him to the Senate as Minister to the Court of 
Spain. When I spoke upon the subject, he held 
up his hands, and turning from me said : ' ' Gen- 
eral Jones, that will never do — that is not the 
place for General Dodge, nor is he the man for 
such a position." I replied: ''Frank, I have 
known Augustus C. Dodge ever since he was a 
small bare-footed, bare-headed boy running 
through the streets of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. 
I knew him when, with his older brother and his 
father's negro slaves, he helped to cordelle the 
keel-boat from south-east Missouri to Galena, 
Illinois, in 1827. I have seen him working in his 
father's lead furnaces and lead mines with his 
father's slaves. I overtook him once when he 
was driving two wagons loaded with lead and 
each hauled by five yoke of oxen, his negro 
Joseph seated on one wagon, he having broken 
down from driving through the deep snow. I 
served with him through the Black Hawk War 
as his father's aid-de-camp — he being a pri- 
vate. I made him Eegister of the Land Office 
in 1838 at Burlington, and I aided in his election 
to Congress as Delegate and as United States 
Senator. I have served two terms with him in 
the Senate of the United States, and I think I 
know Gen. Dodge as well as you do, Frank." 



140 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Holding my fist under his nose, I turned 
about very much dissatisfied and disappointed, 
when he asked me if I was going up to the 
Senate. I replied that I was. He said: ^'Ask 
Gen. Dodge to come to see me." '^I will", I 
answered, "but if you tell him, as you do me, 
that he is not fit for the place, he will, of course, 
not accept it." I went up to the Senate and 
told Gen. Dodge that President Pierce wanted 
to see him. ' ' Do you know what he wants to see 
me for, George?" ''No, I do not exactly know, 
but if he makes you an offer of an office, do not 

be a d d fool and decline it. " I saw him get 

on to his horse and gallop off, and I went to my 
seat in the Senate. 

In less than an hour Sidney Webster, the 
private Secretary of President Pierce, was an- 
nounced as bearing a message from the Presi- 
dent of the United States. I walked up to the 
President of the Senate, Mr. Bright, and asked : 
"Jesse, what is that message?" He said: 
' ' Open it and see. ' ' I did so, and going back to 
my seat, moved that the Senate go into execu- 
tive session. When the Senate was cleared, I 
moved that the message be read and then "that 
the nomination of General Dodge be unanimous- 
ly confirmed without reference to the Committee 
on Foreign Eelations". The nomination was 
unanimously confirmed, and in less than a fort- 
night General Dodge drew $20,000 out of the 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 141 

United States Treasury and was en route to 
Madrid as United States Minister-Plenipoten- 
tiary. 

When in New York City in 1863 my old 
brother Congressman and friend, Hon. John 
McKeon, told me that our mutual friend Ex- 
President Pierce had just arrived at the Astor 
House and was very anxious to see me. I 
immediately called upon him, hugged him in my 
arms, and spent an hour or two with him. In 
the course of our conversation, he asked me if I 
recollected how angry he had made me when he 
declined my request to make Gen. Dodge Min- 
ister to Spain, and added that that was the best 
foreign appointment he had ever made. I told 
him that Lord Willoughby — I think that was 
his name — who bore a letter of introduction to 
me from Gen. Dodge, told me that Lord Harden 
had said to him that if he wished to select a 
friend upon whose sound judgement, honesty, 
and discretion he could rely, he would take Mr. 
Dodge, the American Minister, before any man 
that he had ever met. 



II 

SiNSINAWA 

Josephine and I were married about 4:30 
o'clock p. m., January 7tli, 1829, at her father's 
residence, still standing on the corner of the 
block immediately in the rear of the Church of 
Ste. Genevieve, in the town of that name, before 
a large concom^se of mutual friends. The 
bridesmaids were Carmelite Bossier, now Mrs. 
Guignon, residing in St. Louis, Susan Shannon, 
afterwards the wife of Major Wm. Myers and 
mother of D. D. of this city, and Odile Le Claire, 
now Mrs. Janis, a resident still of Ste. Gene- 
vieve and mother of Mrs. C. H. Gregoire of this 
city. My groomsmen were Bertolme St. 
Gemme, Allen Kimmel, and Savinien St. Vrain. 
From the residence we repaired to the Hotel 
Keil, where a magnificent supper and ball were 
prepared for us by my wife's brother, Charles 
Gregoire, and his wife Eulalie, and my sister 
and her husband, Hon. John Scott. We danced 
all that night and the following day, as was the 
custom in those days at Ste. Genevieve, St. 
Louis, and Kaskaskia. 

In March, 1831, I brought my wife and seven 
servants, Charlotte, Paul, Marie-Louise, Jules, 

142 



SINSINAWA 143 

Henry, Basil and Alexis, and five or six French- 
men up north, leaving my wife at the residence 
of Mrs, Barnes in Galena, until I could make a 
suitable home for her. She remained with Mrs. 
Barnes about a week, then insisted upon coming 
to the Mound where we occupied the two un- 
hewed log cabins which I had helped to build. 
My dear wife often told her children that in all 
her life she had never been happier than when 
she dwelt in that humble abode. 

In the same year, with the assistance of three 
carpenters from Ste. Genevieve, I put up a two 
story, hewed log house, with a spacious cellar, 
and a kitchen at the rear. Though apparently 
in the wilderness at Sinsinawa, we had frequent 
visits from Dubuque and Galena friends, and 
' ' our latch-string was always out. ' ' 

Three daughters of my sisters became mem- 
bers of my family circle here — Misses Eliza 
and Mary Brady, who married Mr. Geo. W. 
Campbell, a merchant of Galena, and during the 
Civil War a Commissary, with the title of Col- 
onel, and Dr. Jacob Wyeth, respectively, and 
the third. Miss Eliza Scott, who married Mr. 
Benj. H. Campbell, youngest brother of Mr. 
Geo. W. Campbell, who was also a merchant, 
and, under the administration of President Lin- 
coln, United States Marshal for Illinois. For 
days before each wedding, busy preparations 
were made for the banquets, which embraced 



144 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

everything procurable in the way of meats and 
delicacies, including champagne. Rev. Samuel 
Mazzuchelli, who afterwards became owner of 
Sinsinawa, and celebrated mass frequently at 
our house, performed the marriage ceremony 
on each occasion. The merrymaking continued 
through the night, and with the morn', the bri- 
dal parties departed for their respective homes. 

The Campbell brothers were Virginians, and 
possessed in a marked degree the well-known 
urbanity of manner and keen sense of hospi- 
tality typical of the F. F. V., and there are many 
among the living, to say nothing of those gone 
before, who will testify to their benevolence and 
hospitality. 

As in those early days "taverns" were few 
and far between, the lights in our windows were 
the beacons which often attracted benighted 
travelers to us. One of these was a young man 
of about twenty years of age who, one stormy 
night, led his horse up to our door, as he feared 
to ride lest he might stumble into a mineral 
hole. The young man was covered with sleet 
and almost frozen. After having exchanged his 
coat of mail for a suit of dry clothes, and par- 
taken of his supper, our young guest, Mr. J. 
Russell Jones, then a clerk in a store at Galena 
at a salary of fifteen dollars per month, retired, 
and the following morning took his leave. He 
later became a stock-holder in and Secretary of 



SINSINAWA 145 

the Galena Packet Co. of which Mr. B. H. Camp- 
bell was President, and after his removal to 
Chicago, was appointed United States Marshal, 
and later Minister to Brussels. He accumu- 
lated wealth through his good management of 
the affairs of the West Division Street Railway 
Co. of Chicago, of which he was many years 
President; but fortune favored him most when 
he won the hand of Miss Elizabeth Ann Scott, 
the sister of Mrs. B. H. Campbell. 

To go back to the time when I first lived at 
Sinsinawa Mound. It was in 1827 that I took 
up my claim and leased 1001 acres, embracing 
the Mound and the magnificent grove of timber, 
from Mr. Thomas McKnight, United States 
Agent of the Lead Mines at Galena. Mr. Mc- 
Knight 's first wife was the sister of my two 
brothers-in-law, Hons. John and Andrew Scott, 
and to him I brought a letter from the first 
named, asking Mr. McKnight 's kind offices in 
my behalf. When I delivered the letter, he ex- 
claimed: ^'What do you bring me a letter from 
John Scott for? I've known you all your life! 
I courted and married my wife in your father's 
house at New Diggings, Missouri." Mr. Mc- 
Knight came often to the Mound, sometimes 
with Jefferson Davis, ''to eat cornbread with 
us ' '. On one occasion Mr. McKnight overheard 
the cook, one of my hired hands, telling the men 
this: ''See that big oven! I made that full of 

10 



146 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

cornbread last night, thinking there would be 
enough for breakfast, but that red-headed 
friend of Mr. Jones' eat it all up — eat a gee- 
whilikin of a supper!" This was a joke Mr. 
McKnight thoroughly enjoyed. I was the first 
person who brought corn-meal, as well as pine 
plank and shingles, to this upper country. The 
last named had been brought from Olean, New 
York State, down the Alleghany River and the 
Ohio, and then up the Mississippi. 

In the winter of 18 — Mr. Charles S. Hemp- 
stead and Mr. James G. Soulard of Galena, and 
myself were riding home in the stage from St. 
Louis, and meeting the stage bound for St. 
Louis, the driver of the latter informed us, in 
reply to our inquiry as to "the news", that 
Mr. Barnes had died. Thereupon Soulard 
and I exclaimed : ' ' There 's your chance, Hemp- 
stead ! ' ' — knowing that Mr. Hempstead had al- 
ways admired Mrs. Barnes. He blushed like a 
school-girl, but in due course of time Mrs. 
Barnes became his wife. They were our be- 
loved friends, and spent their honeymoon with 
us at the Mound, coming home with us in our 
carriage, per previous agreement, from the 
ceremony, to which only a few friends were in- 
vited, as the former's younger brother, William, 
had threatened to give them a charivari. Mr. 
and Mrs. Hempstead were universally beloved 
and respected, as are their descendants. But 



SINSINAWA 147 

one of their children survives — Mr. William 
Hempstead of Minneapolis, with whom, his 
sweet wife, most amiable and interesting 
daughter, and talented sons I had a most de- 
lightful \dsit a year ago last January. Since 
then the pride of their household, their angelic 
daughter, has been called to her heavenly home. 
We lived at Sinsinawa — thus pronounced by 
the Indians — until 1842,^-^ when, having been 
appointed clerk of the Supreme Court of the 
Territory of Wisconsin by the Chief Justice, 
Hon. Charles Dunn, I removed, with my wife 
and five children to Mineral Point. My wife 
wept upon lea\dng this, the home of our early 
married life ; but we soon became domesticated 
in the new one and formed strong ties of friend- 
ship with the residents of that town, whose 
original name was ** Shake-rag" — from the 
manner of apprising the early mining settlers 
of meal-time. 



Ill 

The Close op the Black Hawk Wae 

A day or two after my return home from the 
search for my brother-in-law Felix St. Vrain's 
body, Gen. Dodge sent his Adjutant, W. W. 
Woodbridge, and his oldest son, Henry L. 
Dodge, to my log cabin to ask me to be his aid- 
de-camp. The next morning we started for 
Dodgeville on horseback. We were armed with 
swords, pistols and double-barrelled shot guns. 
On reaching Gen. Dodge 's house, he received us 
cordially, saying he had received an order from 
Gen. Henry Atkinson of the United States 
Army, to take command of Gen. Posey's Brig- 
ade of 1600 Illinois Volunteers. With us were 
some Sac and Winnebago Indians and some 
friendly Indians from Green Bay, acting as 
scouts for the Army. Gen. Dodge suspected 
the ''blind" leader of the Winnebagoes of 
treachery. Before we reached the main body 
of the army under Gen. Atkinson, Gen. Dodge 
received a message from Gen. Atkinson to 
hasten on and join him as soon as possible as 
they were in the vicinity of Black Hawk's 
army. We came to a creek swollen by a recent 
rain, which Gen. Dodge gave orders to swim. 

148 



CLOSE OF THE BLACK HAWK WAR 149 

As we were about to go in, a little squaw, wife 
or daughter of some of the friendly Indians, 
complained that she could not swim. I called to 
her, put her on my back and took her safely 
over. And then Gen. Dodge cried out: "Well, 
George, ladies' man to the last!" 

"We lost sight of Gen. Posey's Brigade in the 
meantime, and when we reached Gen. Atkinson, 
we found he had no trace of Black Hawk's 
army, which the ' ' blind ' ' chief told us had gone 
east toward Milwaukee. As we were out of pro- 
visions. Gen. Atkinson gave orders to Gen. 
Dodge and Gen. Henry's Brigade of volunteers 
to go back to Fort "Winnebago to secure sup- 
plies. We started in obedience to these orders, 
and on our way got news that two of my neigh- 
bors at Sinsinawa Mound had been killed by 
the Indians. Gen. Dodge ordered me to go 
home and see to the safety of my family and 
friends. I returned in company with Maj. De- 
ment, Mr. L. V. Bogy, afterwards United 
States Senator from Missouri, and Sidney 
Breese, who afterwards became United States 
Senator from Illinois and later Chief Justice of 
the Supreme Court of that State. 

Generals Dodge and Henry on their way to 
Fort Winnebago came across the fresh trail of 
Black Hawk's army going west, instead of east, 
as the "blind" Winnebago Chief represented. 
Gen. Dodge sent the information by express to 



150 GEOKGE WALLACE JONES 

Gen. Atkinson and directed that instead of go- 
ing to Fort Winnebago for provisions he 
should follow Black Hawk at once. He pur- 
sued the Indians and overtook them at Wis- 
consin Heights, where they had a short battle, 
whence Black Hawk's army retreated across 
the Wisconsin Eiver en route to the Mississippi. 
They were followed by Gen. Dodge and the rest 
of the Illinois volunteers to Bad Axe, where the 
last battle took place and Black Hawk and the 
other chiefs were taken prisoners, his army dis- 
persed, and the war ended. Gen. Dodge, with 
his command, went to Fort Crawford, at 
Prairie du Chien, where Gen. Atkinson ran out 
to meet him, threw his arms around him and 
exclaimed: ''You have led me on to victory — 
you have saved me!" He was thus greatly 
elated because President Jackson had sent word 
to him that if he did not put an end to the war 
in a few days, he would strike his name from the 
roll of the United States Army. 



IV 

Land Mattees iisr Dubuque 

In 1836 I introduced a bill in Congress making 
a grant of six hundred and forty acres of land, 
each, to the towns of Mineral Point in Wis- 
consin, and Peru, Dubuque, Bellevue, Burling- 
ton, and Fort Madison in Iowa, the said bill 
granting the right of preemption to each bona 
fide settler of one-half acre in in-lots and not 
more than two acres of out-lots. I had this bill 
passed at that session of Congress. At the 
next session I got the bill amended so as to give 
the proceeds of the sale of these lands to the 
respective towns. ^^^ These preemptions were 
to be approved by a Board of Commissioners, 
appointed by the President of the United 
States. The names of the Board of Commis- 
sioners were W. W. Cornell, Dubuque, Prof. 
of Bellevue and M. M. Carver of Bur- 
lington. A very long petition, signed by nearly 
all the leading business men of Dubuque, was 
sent to me at Washington, recommending W. W. 
Corriell as the Commissioner to be appointed 
from Dubuque for the adjudication and pre- 
emption of these town lots. 

On my return to Dubuque, after the adjourn- 

151 



152 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

ment of Congress, many of my constituents 
enquired of me how I came to get Mr. Corriell 
appointed, when I replied that I did so because 
I had received their petition, recommending 
him as a Dubuque commissioner. 

When the public sales of these lands came on 
it was discovered that some seven or eight men 
in Dubuque, amongst them W. W. Corriell, were 
to be allowed to preempt large tracts, or acres, 
within the town site, over and above what the 
law allowed. Messrs. Patrick Quigley, Charles 
Corkery, James Fanning, Timothy Davis, my- 
self, Thomas C. Fassitt, Capt. George A. Shan- 
non, A. Butterworth, and Major Wm. Myers 
had meetings and consultations as to how the 
town lots might be sold off under the act so as 
to give each man who was legally qualified the 
preemption right to what he was justly en- 
titled to. 

I went to the Eegister and Receiver of the 
Land Office to ascertain from them whether 
they would allow the lots to be sold in such 
order as would secure to each bona fide pre- 
emptioner the right to his or her just claim. 
Judge Corkery, the clerk for the Receiver, said 
that he could make such a list as would give 
every one his claim. Unfortunately, however, 
he put the house of one Jackson on one lot, 
when, as a matter of fact, it was on two lots. 
Jackson complained of not being allowed both, 



LAND MATTERS IN DUBUQUE 153 

and that excited the speculators who held a 
meeting among themselves and appointed a 
Commissioner to go to the Register and Re- 
ceiver and demand why the lots were not sold 
in regular order. 

A great excitement and mob ensued. They 
swore they would tear down the Land Office if 
the lots were not sold in regular order. To 
allay their excitement the Register and Re- 
ceiver informed them that a petition had been 
filed by twelve respectable citizens with the 
land officers requesting that the lots should be 
sold as they had been. They then demanded 
the names of the twelve petitioners. 

The sales had only been suspended through 
the violence of the mob. I was lying down in 
my house, ill, when Capt. Geo. A. Shannon, my 
cousin, came in and informed me of the mob 
and of the demand for the names of the twelve 
petitioners. The Register and Receiver had re- 
fused to give them because the mob swore to kill 
every man whose name was amongst them. 

On receiving this intelligence, I armed myself 
with four pistols and went to the Land Office, 
made my way through the crowd with difficulty 
to the stand, and mounting it called for silence, 
when I addressed them as follows : 

"I understand that all this great excitement 
is the consequence of a determination of the 
people to know who the twelve petitioners are. 



154 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

I know who they are, and I will give yon the 
names. The one that heads the list is Geo. W. 
Jones, the man who, without any request from 
you, secured the passage of the law which gives 
you the right to this land." 

Bill Smith and other leaders of the mob, with 
drawn pistols, rushed towards me at the stand, 
threatening vengeance upon me. I cried: ''Lef 
the assassin and murderer of Woodbury Mas- 
sey come on!" Wliereupon the crowd cried: 
"As Gen. Jones heads the list we will stand by 
him." Quiet was then restored. The Sher- 
iff had a large posse of men on horseback, 
which dispersed the mob, and the sales were 
suspended. 

The Register and Receiver reported the mat- 
ter to the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office at Washington. The result was that a 
very few speculators and usurpers got, at mini- 
mum price, the most of the land, which was 
intended for the citizens at large. 

This ' ' Bill ' ' Smith, to whom I have referred, 
and his father had killed Woodbury Massey at 
his mining claim, near the corner of Third and 
Hill Streets. A short time thereafter Bill 
Smith frightened a surviving brother of Mas- 
sey 's out of the store of old Mr. Johnson. He 
went home and told his sister Louise [Louisa] 
that Bill Smith had threatened to kill him. 
When she asked him what he did, he replied: 



LAND MATTERS IN DUBUQUE 155 

''Nothing — for he would have killed me." 
She took a pistol, went to Johnson's store, 
where Smith still was in a crowd, and asked: 
''Are you Bill Smith?" On his answering in 
the affirmative, she pulled the pistol from under 
her cloak and shot him down. The legislature 
at the next session named one of the Counties 
'^Louise" [Louisa] in her honor, in the fall of 
1837 ; and that circumstance furnished me with 
a powerful argument in favor of the passage 
of the Bill to create the Territory of Iowa. 

Bill Smith's father shortly after the above 
occurrence was seen walking down Main Street 
in Galena by another brother of Massey's, who 
ran out of his shop directly opposite to the De 
Soto House, shot him down and killed him to 
avenge the murder of his brother Woodbury. 
That Mr. Massey, I believe, still resides in Po- 
tosi, Wisconsin.^2^ 

This mob law excitement was the consequence 
of a decision by Judge Irvin, the additional 
Judge for Michigan, that the Act attaching the 
country west of the Mississippi did not give him 
jurisdiction in such cases. 'Conner, who 
killed his fellow miner, had been tried at Du- 
buque by a self -constituted court, found guilty, 
and hung, about where the present Court House 
now stands. 

O 'Conner wrote to me at Sinsinawa Mound 
after his condemnation, imploring me to save 



156 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

his life. I believed he was guilty of murder and 
that he deserved to be hung, and therefore I did 
not intercede in his behalf. 

This additional circumstance also assisted me 
very much in procuring the passage of the bill 
to organize the Territory of Iowa. 



V 

The Cilley Duel 

This terrible duel, the most terrible in the 
world, not excepting that between Burr and 
Hamilton, caused the passage of the ''Anti- 
dueling Law", by Congress, which makes it 
''murder for any man to kill another in a duel, 
and a penitentiary offense for any man to be 
second, surgeon or friend. "^^^ 

About the 20th of February, 1838, a violent 
debate took place in the House of Eepresenta- 
tives, as usual arraigning the administration of 
Mr. Van Buren and conducted by Hon. H. A. 
Wise, of Accomac, Virginia, Hon. John Bell and 
Bailey Peyton, both of Tennessee, on behalf of 
the then Whig party.^^^ The administration 
was most ably defended by the eloquent, talent- 
ed and able Mr. Cilley of Maine. In the course 
of the debate, Mr. Cilley said : " It is very easy, 
Mr. Speaker, for their opponents to make 
charges against the administration of Mr. Van 
Buren. The newspapers charge that the Hon. 
James Watson Webb, editor of the New York 
Courier Enquirer, the man who has given the 
name of 'Whig' to the party and who has the 

157 



158 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

name of the great Henry Clay up as that of the 
next candidate for President of the United 
States, has received a bribe of $52,000 for his 
advocacy of the re-charter of the Bank of the 
United States." Mr. Wise then asked: ''Does 
the gentleman charge General Webb with hav- 
ing received a bribe of $52,000?" Mr. Cilley 
replied: "I make no charges. These are the 
charges in the public newspapers." Messrs. 
Wise, Bell, and Peyton persisted, asking : "Does 
the gentleman from Maine believe the charges? ' ' 
Mr. Cilley replied: "I express no opinion. "^^^ 

A few days thereafter. General Webb having 
been informed of this debate in the House by 
his reporter, Mr. Davis, arrived in Washington, 
wrote a note to Mr. Cilley and asked his friend, 
Mr. Graves, to be the bearer of it to Mr. Cilley, 
which he agreed to do, and did, when Mr. Cilley 
politely declined to receive the note from Mr. 
Webb, saying: "I have no acquaintance with 
him." Mr. Cilley continued: "Mr. Graves, you 
and I are personal friends and I would do noth- 
ing to displease you, but I do not wish to enter 
into any communication with Mr. Webb."^"'^ 

Mr. Graves again returned to the Kentucky 
delegation and detailed the conversation, when 

Mr. Clay said: "Graves, the d d Yankee 

thinks that a challenge ; tell him that it 's a mere 
note of inquiry. ' ' When Mr. Graves returned a 
second time, Mr. Clay said : ' ' Graves, this is an 



THE CILLEY DUEL 159 

insult to you; you must challenge that d d 

Yankee." Mr. Clay sat down and drew up a 
formal, peremptory challenge, gave it to Graves, 
who took it to Mr. Wise, asking him to be his 
second, and bear it to Mr. Cilley. Mr. Wise, 
without inquiring into the cause of the chal- 
lenge, agreed to bear it, but upon reading it 
said: "This challenge is too peremptory; — it 
leaves no room for adjustment." Graves 
amended the challenge, and Wise took it to 
Cilley at his quarters, at Guest's Boarding 
House, on Third Street, between Pennsylvania 
Avenue and C Street. 

Upon presentation of the challenge to Mr. 
Cilley, he said: "Mr. Wise, I accept this chal- 
lenge and will send my second to you to agree 
upon terms. ' ' 

The statements made above, as far as they re- 
late to the debate in the House, I make on my 
own recollection of them, which is perfectly 
clear. As I was in my seat in the House and 
heard all, I observed, as I sat by the side of my 
friend, Gov. Yell, of Arkansas: "That man 
Wise is the most insulting man in debate I have 
ever heard. If I were a Democrat^ ^^ like your- 
self, Governor, I would give that man a thrash- 
ing if he talked to me as he has to Mr. Cilley. ' ' 
The Governor said : ' ' General, do you know Mr. 
Wise?" I said: "No, I do not, nor do I want 
to." The Governor said: "Well, sir, he is one 



160 GEOKGE WALLACE JONES 

of the most gentlemanly, polite and agreeable 
men that I have ever met, when outside of this 
House." 

On the day following the delivery of the chal- 
lenge to Mr. Cilley, the Hon. Franklin Pierce, 
then a member of the Senate from New Hamp- 
shire, and with whom I had served in the House 
of Eepresentatives, where we became warm 
personal friends, called to see me at my board- 
ing house, Dawson's of Capitol Hill, about 150 
yards N. E. of the then Senate Chamber. On 
my entering Dr. Linn's room as usual about 
3 p. m., I found General Pierce standing be- 
tween Dr. Linn (on his sick bed) and Col. 
Benton, his colleague, who sat on his left. Dr. 
Linn remarked as I entered : ' ' There 's the man ; 
he'll do it." I said: "Doctor, what shall I tell 
Proctor (our servant,) to bring you for your 
dinner 1 ' ' He replied : " A small plate of soup. ' ' 
And I left his room and went into my own. As 
I went out I heard Col. Benton say : ' ^ They can't 
object to the rifle and you can refer them to the 
cases of Moore and Letcher, of Kentucky, and 
others." 

I went to my room and sat down to write, 
leaving my door ajar that I might hear the din- 
ner bell. General Pierce soon followed me, and 
placing his hand on my shoulder, asked : ' ^ Gen- 
eral, will you do this?" ''I don't know to what 
you allude", I replied. ''General, don't you 



THE CILLEY DUEL 161 

know that Graves, of Kentucky, has challenged 
onr friend, Cilley ? ' ' And he continued : ' ' Cilley 
has sent me to you to ask you to act as his 
second." ''What has he challenged Cilley 
for?", I asked. He answered: ''On account of 
that fierce debate in the House the other day." 
"Why!" said I, "Graves never said a word in 
that debate, for I heard it all." "Well!" he 
persisted, ' ' Cilley wants you to be his second. ' ' 
I replied: "I cannot under any circumstances 
consent to serve as his second, for it would 
connect me with the Democratic party, defeat 
all my measures here and my re-election to Con- 
gress. "^^^ He again importuned me, but as I 
persistently refused, he asked: "Will you go 
with me to the House now to see Gov. Miller, of 
Missouri, who is his second choice for second?" 
I answered : ' ' Yes, but I will do nothing to con- 
nect me with the duel. ' ' 

We went down, entered his carriage and 
drove over to the Capitol, I taking a seat in the 
Vice President's room while he went over to 
the House. He soon returned saying: "Gov. 
Miller positively declines to act as second, say- 
ing he is entirely too old, and that he has never 
had anything to do with such affairs since the 
War of 1812." Mr. Pierce then asked: "Now, 
General, will you go with me to see Mr. Cilley?" 

As we drove up Pennsylvania Avenue, he saw 
Col. J. W. Schaumbourg walking and called to 

11 



162 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

his driver to stop and take Col. Schaumbourg 
into the carriage with us, and we drove to Dr. 
Duncan's quarters. Entering Dr. Duncan's 
room, we found Mr. Cilley and Hon. Wm. By- 
num, of North Carolina, of the House. Cilley 
threw his arms around me and said: "I thank 
you, dear General, for coming to serve me in 
this affair." I said: "Cilley, I can't be your 
second." "Oh!" he said, "come out here and 
let me talk to you. ' ' We went out into the hall. 
He said: "General, Mr. Graves is a large and 
strong man; he can take me by the collar with 
his left hand, hold me off and cowhide me, or 
cane me, and would publish me as a coward." 
I said: "Mr. Cilley, if I act as your second it 
will connect me with the Democratic party, of 
which you are a leader, defeat all my measures 
here in Congress, and prevent my re-election as 
Delegate. ' ' He replied : ' ' General, I have stood 
by you in all your measures in the House. We 
have been warm personal friends ever since I 
have been here, have served as brother members 
for the great 22nd of February ball. I would 
do as much for you. Are you willing to see me 
disgraced?" "No", said I, "come in and I 
will serve you, though it will ruin me as a Dele- 
gate. ' ' 

On reentering the room, I asked: "When, 
how and where do you want to fight?" He re- 
plied: "I want to fight immediately, with rifles, 



THE CILLEY DUEL 163 

and on the Marlborough Road to Baltimore, 
outside of the district. ' ' I asked : ' ' Have you a 
rifle?" Whereupon Dr. Duncan arose from his 
seat, went to his clothes press, took out a rifle, 
beautifully ornamented with silver, and handed 
it to me. I said: "Why do you use a rifle, 
Cilley? Are you acquainted with the use of a 
rifle?" "No", he said, "I am not at all, but 
Mr. Graves, being a Kentuckian, is, doubtless, 
so I choose a rifle, so as to be on equal terms 
with him." I examined the rifle and looking 
into it said, "This is a small bore." Dr. Dun- 
can immediately replied, "General, I had this 
rifle made to order in Cincinnati. I can take the 
head ofl a squirrel every pop from the highest 
tree in the Miami bottom." Cilley remarked: 
"General, I like this rifle very much." "It is a 
little too soft on the trigger, a little too long in 
the breach ' ', I replied. ' ' It has a temper screw. 
I can make it as hard as you please and I can 
take off the breach very easily, which will make 
it two inches shorter. " " But ' ', I asked, ' ' Have 
you seen any other rifle ! " " No ' ', he answered, 
* ' I have not. ' ' 

I sat down at the table, drew up the terms of 
meeting, and wrote a short note to our mutual 
friend, Hon. John Forsyth, Secretary of State, 
asking for the use of his rifle, which I handed to 
Bynum to deliver ; one to Hon. Francis P. Blair, 
editor of the Globe, handing this to Col. Schaum- 



164 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

bourg to deliver, and one to Mr. Rives, (Mr. 
Blair's partner), wliicli last I entrusted to Dr. 
Duncan to deliver, all containing the same re- 
quest. 

I went down stairs, entered the carriage and 
drove to Mr. Wise's quarters at King's Board- 
ing House on Pennsylvania Avenue. On being 
shown up to his rooms by his black servant, I 
found him and Mr. Graves standing by the 
bureau, examining a pair of dueling pistols, and 
I said: ''Gentlemen, you are engaged in the 
very business that has brought me here. Mr. 
"Wise, I have a note for you from Mr, Cilley, 
agreeing upon the terms of the duel." Wise 
said: ''Graves, you had better go out." And 
he did. I then handed Mr. Wise Mr. Cilley 's 
acceptance of the challenge, with the terms, etc., 
which he proceeded to read. He immediately 
exclaimed, with a terrible oath: "This is mur- 
derous! Rifles! Who ever heard of rifles?" 
I replied: "Mr. Wise, these are our terms, sir; 
you can accept them or not, as you please." 
"Oh!", he said, "I have no other alternative, 

but I will be d d if I know where there's a 

rifle in the City. ' ' I replied : ' ' There are plenty 
of rifles — a Government arsenal full, and oth- 
ers." 

As I walked out of the door, he smilingly 
said: "The distance is so great that they will 
not be apt to hit each other." I returned im- 



THE CILLEY DUEL 165 

mediately to Dr. Duncan's room and reported 
minutel}^ what had occurred at Mr. Wise 's room. 
I found that Bynum had returned with the rifle 
of Forsyth and Schaumbourg with the rifle of 
Blair, but Dr. Duncan had not gone to Eives to 
get his rifle, he being anxious to have his own 
rifle used in the duel. Mr. Cilley remarked that 
the fact that I found them examining pistols 
confirmed his opinion that they would expressly 
object to fight with pistols. 

Dr. Duncan said: ''Now, General, go back to 
Wise and tell him we have two rifles here, that 
you have no use for them, and they can have 
either one of them." I wrote a note to Wise 
saying this, drove back to his room, handed him 
the note which he read and replied: "Thank 
you very much, General, but we have a rifle." 
By this time it had become too late to go to the 
grounds, so it was postponed until early the 
next morning.^ ^*^ 

We, of the Cilley party, started out in the 
omnibus, the only one then in the City of Wash- 
ington, Graves and his party following us in two 
carriages. As we drove by my lodgings, we 
stopped and I went up to my room and brought 
down to the omnibus with me a pair of buffalo 
boots, which I put on Cilley 's feet, placing the 
robe under them. 

Our party consisted of Mr. Cilley, principal, 
his second, myself. Col. J. W. Schaumbourg, 



166 GEORGE "WALLACE JONES 

and Dr. Duncan, of the House of Representa- 
tives, from Cincinnati, Ohio, as his surgeon, and 
Hon. Mr. Bynum of North Carolina. The 
Graves party consisted of W. J. Graves, prin- 
cipal, H. A. Wise, second, J. J. Crittenden, of 
the United States Senate, Mr. Foltz, surgeon of 
the United States Navj^, as surgeon, and Hon. 
Mr. Menifee of Kentucky. 

As we drove out of the city, Cilley remarked 
to me smilingly: ''I shall have to go to Wis- 
consin to live after this affair, as my constitu- 
ents would never vote for me again or employ 
me as their attorney." 

A short time before reaching the place of 
meeting, I saw two or three men following Mr. 
Graves ' carriage on horseback. I got out of the 
omnibus and went up to Mr. Wise and asked 
him if those men belonged to his party. He re- 
plied that they did not and that he had told 
them not to follow us, but they replied, ''We are 
free men and can go where we please on a public 
road." I saw two other Kentucky gentlemen in 
one of Mr. Wise's carriages, and two rifles. I 
said: "Mr. Wise, you have no right to have 
more than one rifle. ' ' He answered : ' ' General, 
one has a bullet half way down and we can 
neither get it up nor down, and you can take it 
if you want it. " " Well ' ', I replied, ' ' they must 
not be on the ground, nor must those other 
gentlemen." To which he assented. 



THE CILLEY DUEL 167 

On reaching an open, deserted field, I stopped 
and told Mr. Wise ''this is the ground we have 
selected." Mr. Wise and I locked arms and 
stepped off eighty steps, which we supposed 
would be eighty yards, as prescribed by the 
terms, but which turned out to be eighty-five 
yards when measured, next day, with the tape 
measure, as I was informed and believe. 

Mr. Wise and I were forty steps apart, equi- 
distant from the line of fire, each of us on the 
right of our respective friends. We loaded our 
rifles in the presence of each other, then placed 
them in the hands of our principals and 
marched back to our respective stations ; when 
I gave the word as follows: ''Gentlemen, are 
you ready? Fire! One — two — three — four 
— stop ! ' ' The principals fired, when I asked : 
"All right, Mr. Wise?" He replied: "Yes, 
sir." Then we both went to our friends. 
When I got within hearing distance of Mr. 
Cilley he said: "I fired too soon; the trigger, as 
I expected, deceived me." He had fired into 
the ground but a few steps before him. I told 
him to "be more deliberate and not fire till 
you have taken good aim." I returned to my 
post with Mr. Cilley 's rifle in my hand and said 
to Mr. Wise: "I hope Mr. Graves is now satis- 
fied. My friend fired into the ground but a few 
steps before him, whilst Mr. Graves made a de- 
liberate shot at about the word 'three'." Mr. 



168 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Wise replied: ''Mr. Graves requires another 
shot." We loaded our rifles, placed them again 
in the hands of our principals and returned to 
our posts, when I again gave the word as in the 
first instance. Mr. Graves fired at about the 
word ''one" and Mr. Cilley at about the word 
"three". When Mr. Cilley 's rifle went off, Mr. 
Graves stepped back one step. Again I asked : 
' ' All right, Mr. Wise ? " " Yes, sir ' ', he replied. 
Wlien I approached Mr. Cilley, I said: "You 
made a good shot ! ' ' He replied : ' ' Yes, I think 
I hit him, for he stepped back." I again re- 
turned to my post and said to Mr. Wise: "I 
hope Mr. Graves is now satisfied." He replied: 
"I'll answer in a few moments," thereupon 
walking over to Graves, when he (Wise), 
Graves, Crittenden and Menifee had an appar- 
ently earnest conversation. Mr. Wise then re- 
turned to his post and said: "Mr. Graves re- 
quires another shot." When Col. James W. 
Schaumbourg said: "By G — ! I think we had 
better make a general fight of it!" I turned to 
Schaumbourg, and said: "Jim, keep quiet; you 
have nothing to say ! ' ' Mr. Wise and I met as 
before, loaded our rifles for the third time and 
placed them in the hands of our principals, 
when I returned to my place and gave the word 
as formerly. At about the word "three" both 
rifles went off so simultaneously that persons 
who did not see the smoke thought but one rifle 



THE CILLEY DUEL 169 

had been fired. Mr. Cilley fell, and when I 
again asked: ''All right, Mr. Wise?" he re- 
plied ''Yes." Thereupon I ran to Mr. Cilley, 
who gave a last gasp and was dead. In a few 
seconds Mr. Wise approached and asked : ' ' Gen. 
Jones, how is yonr friend?" I replied: "He is 
dead, sir." 

He returned immediately to Mr, Graves, who 
came walking up towards me, with Mr. Critten- 
den and Mr. Menifee. Mr. Wise then asked: 
"Have you any objections to Mr. Graves seeing 
Mr. Cilley?" They continued to advance a few 
steps, then turned and went away. 

We laid Mr. Cilley on the floor of the omnibus 
and took him to his quarters in the City. 

On Sunday following, Mr. Wise came to my 
boarding house, saying he wished to see me pri- 
vately. On being shown to my room, he said: 
' ' General, I have called to see you to ask if you 
are willing to join me in a statement to the pub- 
lic as to the true facts attending this duel? ' ' At 
this moment my breakfast bell rang and I said : 
"Mr. Wise, let us go down and get some break- 
fast. ' ' He replied : " I have had my breakfast. 
General; you go and get yours and I will wait 
here until you return." When I reached my 
seat at the table I asked Col. Benton, president 
of our "mess": "Who do you think I have in 
my room? Mr. Wise has just called to see me 
to ascertain whether I am willing to unite with 



170 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

him in making a statement to the public. ' ' Col. 
Benton replied: "That's just right, General, for 
when I had my duel with Lucas, Judge Lawless, 
my second, who sits by your side, and Mr. 
Lucas' second, Barton, made a joint statement 
to the public at St. Louis, as to all the facts and 
circumstances attending that duel." 

After a hasty breakfast I returned to my room 
and Mr. Wise and I spent the whole day nearly 
drawing off the statement which was given to 
the newspapers and later to the investigating 
committee of the House of Representatives. 

In the course of our conversation that day 
Mr. Wise said: "General, if I had known that 
Mr. Graves challenged Mr. Cilley on account of 
that d d corrupt bribed coward, James Wat- 
son Webb, I would never have carried that 
challenge to Mr. Cilley. ' ' Mr. Wise satisfied me 
in that conversation that day that he was op- 
posed to the duel, and that Mr. Clay prompted 
it because of his great friendship for Gen. 
Webb, who as editor of the New York Courier 
and Enquirer was advocating Mr. Clay's elec- 
tion to the Presidency.^ ^' 

I had had a great prejudice against Mr. Wise 
because he seemed to, and did, domineer as the 
leader of the Whig party in the House of Eep- 
resentatives, but our association in this duel 
and our correspondence subsequently, made us 
warm friends as long as he lived. 



VI 

Legislative Mattees 

In 1837, whilst a delegate in Congress, a pub- 
lic meeting was held at Sinipee, now a deserted 
village in Grant County, Wisconsin, opposite 
** Eagle Point" in this City, and gotten up and 
managed by my good friend, John Plumbe, Jr., 
at which memorials and resolutions were adopt- 
ed and sent to me praying Congress to make an 
appropriation of money to survey the route of 
a railroad from Milwaukee, through Sinipee 
and Dubuque, to San Francisco, California.^^^ 
I was amazed at the temerity of my constitu- 
ents, in seriously sending me such an unheard- 
of prayer. Nevertheless, I felt in duty bound 
to present the petition, and did so, when it pro- 
duced a great laugh and hurrah in the house, 
members singing out to me that it would not 
be long before my constituents would ask Con- 
gress to build a railroad to the moon. 

I urged the matter with my usual energy and 
boldness and had the satisfaction of securing 
an appropriation of $10,000,^^^ and afterwards 
of knowing that the survey was actually made 
from Milwaukee to Dubuque for the great road 
which is now in successful operation across the 

171 



172 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Eocky Mountains. That John Plumbe, Jr., was 
an Englishman by birth and a gentleman of 
great intelligence and energy, and whose broth- 
er Richard and his nephew and namesake, John 
Plumbe, now reside at San Francisco. John 
Plumbe, Jr., was the same gentleman who acted 
as secretary of the public meeting which was 
held in Dubuque the next spring and which pe- 
titioned President Van Buren to appoint me 
Governor of Iowa, at the organization of Iowa 
on the 4th of July, 1838. 

My right to the seat as Delegate was contest- 
ed by my competitor. Judge Doty, unsuccess- 
fully [successfully], in 1838. Three or four 
days thereafter, I received a note from the Hon. 
Mr. Giddings of Ohio, stating that a resolution 
in the House would be introduced denying my 
right to receive compensation for my attend- 
ance at that session of Congress. I showed the 
note to Dr. Linn, who said: '^Speaker Polk ad- 
vised you to get your check of $1900", which I 
did. ''Yes, Dr., but I will return it to the 
Speaker to-morrow morning." 

After tea, when our mess was assembled as 
usual in our parlor, Dr. Linn informed some 
ten or twelve of the Senators and Representa- 
tives of the note and said that I had determined 
to return it the next morning. The mess agreed 
with him that I ought not to do so, as I had it 
by order of the Speaker. I acted, however, up- 



LEGISLATIVE MATTERS 173 

on my own judgment and sent it in a note to 
the Speaker of the House, saying that I would 
not keep the money if not entitled to it. That 
day Mr. Bond of the House introduced the reso- 
lution, when the Speaker read my note to the 
House and showed the check which I had re- 
turned to him. A warm debate ensued as to my 
right to the pay, which resulted in a decision by 
the House that I was not only entitled to the 
pay, but also to the seat for the whole session 
of Congress, and a motion for a reconsideration 
of the question was made; but as three days 
had passed since the decision of the question 
adversely to me, it was ruled out.^^*^ 

Splendid speeches were made in my behalf 
on that question by Gen. John Pope, Henry A. 
Wise, Frank Thomas, Richard Biddle, and oth- 
ers. As the debate was closing, I met in the 
hall of the House, Justice Baldwin of the Su- 
preme Court, who said to me: "Mr. Biddle has 
just made his speech demonstrating your right 
not only to the pay but also your right to the 
seat itself." 

A year or so after that I met at Hon. Eobert 
J. Walker's house the Hon. Mr. Biddle, who 
asked me if I had ever been informed as to how 
I had been defrauded out of my seat. I told him 
that I had not. "Well", he said, "you were, 
and I will some day give you all the particulars 
thereof." But I never afterwards met him. 



174 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

At the passage of the act to establish the 
Territory of Iowa I was more strongly recom- 
mended for the appointment of her Governor 
than any other man was for that office. Presi- 
dent Van Buren was my warm and devoted 
friend, as was evidenced by his allowing me to 
designate all the men for all the other offices of 
Iowa and by his appointment of myself as Sur- 
veyor General at Dubuque in December, 1839.^^^ 
He intended to appoint me Governor and would 
have done so but that several Democrats in the 
House of Representatives went to him and told 
him that my appointment would ruin them and 
him, too, because of the false prejudice which 
existed against me on account of my connection 
with the Cilley duel, which made me many sin- 
cere friends in Congress, who understood the 
circumstances, as they were not understood in 
the eastern States. 

Gen. Warner Lewis, my greatly lamented 
friend, who died in 1888, happened to call on me 
as he was returning to Dubuque from Virginia 
in the spring of 1838, when I told him that I 
would in a few days thereafter get my bill 
through to create the Territory of Iowa. It 
astonished him, as he did not know that such 
favor was about to be granted to this portion of 
the then Territory of Wisconsin. As he came 
up the Mississippi, returning home, he told the 
news all along the river, when public meetings 



LEGISLATIVE MATTERS 175 

were held at Keokuk, Fort Madison, Burlington, 
Davenport, Dubuque, etc., recommending my 
appointment as Governor of the Territory. 
Members of both houses of Congress also, in 
strong letters and petitions sent to the Presi- 
dent, asked for my appointment. Among them 
were letters from Senators Linn, Buchanan, 
Crittenden, Hon. T. H. Benton, Chairman of the 
Committee on Territories, Gov. Dodge of Wis- 
consin, and others, urging my appointment, 
some of which recommendations I include here- 
in.^ ^^ I was not appointed, for the reasons as- 
signed above, and to my satisfaction, for I was 
heartily sick and tired of holding office and 
earnestly desired to retire to my farm at Sin- 
sinawa Mound, to enjoy the cultivation of my 
"own vine and fig tree." Dr. Linn and Mr. 
Buchanan and Mr. Benton, Chairman of the 
Committee on Territories, earnestly desired my 
appointment. 

It all resulted to my advantage, as, without 
any effort on my own part, I was twice made 
Surveyor General, selected as United States 
Clerk at Mineral Point, and sent as Minister to 
Bogota after two terms of service in the Senate 
of the United States. 

My action in securing the appointment of 
Gen. Henry Dodge as Wisconsin's first Gov- 
ernor, of Augustus C, a young man just com- 
mencing life as a poor merchant at Dodgeville, 



176 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

as Register of Public Monies at Burlington, 
Iowa, and of his brother Henry L. as Agent of 
the Indians in New Mexico, and also of Patrick 
Quigley, Thomas McKnight, Judge Corkery and 
Gen. Warner Lewis, to the respective offices 
held by them, was wholly the suggestion of my 
own mind and without solicitation on the part 
of any one. I knew them to be worthy and well 
qualified; hence I secured their appointments. 
My action met with universal approval, as was 
the case in all matters affecting the people and 
the Territories, for no petitions were ever sent 
by my constituents, and I had to act upon the 
promptings of my own mind.^^^ 

I drew my own bills and resolutions to secure 
the action of Congress. In those days I was full 
of energy and tact, never tiring in my efforts 
to serve my constituents, and I did not ask for 
any of the eleven or twelve offices which were 
voluntarily conferred upon me. Mr. Buchanan, 
then a Senator in Congress from Pennsylvania, 
was absent from his seat when the petitions and 
memorials were sent to the President asking 
for my appointment as Governor, and, as his 
able letter shows, he at his own suggestion 
wrote and sent the letter to President Van 
Buren. On his return to his seat in the Senate 
from Bedford Springs he came to me and asked 
me why I did not inform him of my application 
for the position. I replied that I had nothing 



LEGISLATIVE MATTERS 177 

to do with the matter, as it was entirely and 
exclusively the suggestion of our friends — that 
in reality I did not ask for or desire the office. 
But he was always a sincere friend to me ever 
since I was introduced to him and Col. King by 
Senator Linn, the last of November, 1835, at the 
Relay House, near Baltimore, for which I am 
and have ever been profoundly grateful. I be- 
lieve that he was one of the purest, wisest, and 
greatest men who ever occupied office in our 
country. A committee of Democrats from Wis- 
consin induced me to go to him to prevail upon 
him, in 1858, to permit his name to be announced 
as a candidate for reelection to the Presidency 
of the United States, when he promptly declined 
the proffered honor, declaring that nothing 
could induce him to fill the office of President 
for another term. He was proud of having been 
the Chief Executive, but could not think of being 
made a candidate for reelection. 

Gov. Dodge of Wisconsin could have been 
President of the United States instead of J. K. 
Polk if he had consented to allow his name to 
be presented by the Committee, headed by Hon. 
Linn Boyd of Kentucky, of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, to the National Democratic Conven- 
tion which sat at Baltimore in 1844. The Com- 
mittee went down to Washington twice to see 
him on the subject, but he persistently refused 
the great honor. He said that while there were 

12 



178 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

such distinguished men as Mr. Van Buren, CoL 
Benton, Silas Wright, and Mr. Buchanan, and 
others, there was no use of thinking of him. 
' ' They want the office and are qualified to fill it. 
I do not want the place and am not qualified for 
it." They sent his son Augustus C, then Dele- 
gate with him, to intercede with him. He said : 
''Augustus, I have twice told those gentlemen 
why I declined their kind offer. Go out of my 
room or I will put you out ! " In the spring of 
1844 I wrote a pamphlet and had it printed in 
Dubuque, urging the nomination of Gov. Dodge, 
and sent it to all of the members of the Demo- 
cratic Convention, the most of whom I knew 
well. 

In 1848, 1 5'ielded to the importunities of such 
friends as Judge John King, Patrick Quigley, 
Charles Corkery — God bless them I pray — 
and others, who had urged me for a year of two 
before to become a candidate for the Senate of 
the United States, I being then Surveyor Gen- 
eral at Dubuque, Iowa, and feeling confident, as 
Col. Taylor had been elected President, that I 
would be removed from the Surveyor General- 
ship. At the instance of Gen. A. C. Dodge, in 
the fall of 1847, 1 went down to Iowa City to try 
to bring on the election, he telling me that 
through the influence of Major Jacob Huner, a 
great friend of mine, as he informed me, and 
the leader of the "Possum" party, I could se- 



LEGISLATIVE MATTERS 179 

cure the election of Senator. But I was unable 
to induce the "Possums" (nine of them) to go 
into the election unless Gen. Dodge was dropped 
as a candidate. They said they would vote for 
me but that they could not vote for Gen. Dodge, 
because, as he had made Col. Edward John- 
stone the United States Attorney for the Terri- 
tory, they believed he would make him the 
United States Judge and that then they would 
lose their claims on the Half Breed Tract. I 
could not induce them to go into the election, 
and so I came home. 

Soon, however, a joint convention of the two 
houses was held and Judge Thomas S. Wilson 
came within one vote of being elected Iowa's 
first United States Senator, in my absence. 
This was in December, 1847.^^^ 

I did not consent to have my name used as a 
candidate for the Senate of the United States, 
in 1847, as is erroneously stated by my old and 
valued friend, Hon. Hawkins Taylor, in the last 
number of the Iowa Historical Record in his 
otherwise wonderfully accurate history of the 
session of the legislature of Iowa in 1847,^'*^ but 
I persistently refused to permit Judge John 
King, Patrick Quigley, Judge Charles Corkery, 
Thomas McKnight and other good friends, so 
to announce me until 1848, when I feared Gen. 
Taylor would beat my noble, great and good 
friend Gen. Cass for the Presidency of the 



180 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

United States, and when I supposed that I 
would be removed from the office of Surveyor 
General of Wisconsin, an office which I greatly 
preferred and which I was better qualified to 
fill. 

After I was announced as candidate for the 
United States Senate, I did not once, during the 
whole year, leave my office to go into the State 
to electioneer for the place, as I knew that my 
competitors, Judge Wilson, Gov. Hempstead, 
Judge Grant and others were doing. Nor did I 
ever ask any man to vote for me, or try to in- 
duce any one to do so. During the summer and 
fall of 1847 Hon. Thomas Rogers came to see 
me nearly every day to induce me to give my 
influence for Judge Wilson for the Senate. The 
more he would plead with me, the more deter- 
mined was I to oppose Wilson to the bitter end. 
He finally told Wilson that he could do nothing 
with me and advised him to call and see me in 
person, and to make a strong appeal to me, as 
I was a generous hearted man and might be in- 
duced to support him. And so one night be- 
tween ten and eleven o'clock Wilson came to 
see me and rang my bell, when I met him at the 
door in my night clothes. He said : ' ' You have 
retired, and I'll call tomorrow." ''No, come in, 
Judge, I am watching over my sick little son." 
We took seats, and he said: "I am going down 
through the State to see the people, to-morrow, 



LEGISLATIVE MATTERS 181 

on the matter, and I concluded I would call to 
see how you feel on the subject of the election 
of the United States Senator." I replied: "I 
can not speak freely to you on that subject in 
my own house. I will see you in the morning. ' ' 
*'0h", he replied, '*I will leave in the morn- 
ing. Speak out frankly what your views and 
opinions are." "Well, then, Judge, I shall con- 
tinue to do all that I possibly can to defeat your 
election." .... 

The next year I consented to run and was 
elected over Judge Wilson, Hon. Chas. Mason, 
first Chief Justice of Iowa, Judge James Grant, 
J. F. Kinney, and some five or six others, be- 
sides Gov. Stephen Hempstead, Gen. Fletcher 
and Lucius H. Langworthy 

In the fall of 1848, I permitted my friends to 
announce me as a candidate for the Senate, 
and about the last week in November I set out 
in my carriage for Iowa City as an avowed 
candidate, my friends, Patrick Quigley, Judge 
Corkery, and my nephew, Wm. Ashley Jones, 
riding with me. Wm. Ashley asked me to drive 
down by the Miners' Express printing office, as 
he wanted to get a box there. He said: "This 
box contains a biography of yourself, uncle, 
which I have written, with the assistance of our 
friends here, Messrs. Quigley and Corkery." 
That was the first I knew of it. At Iowa City, 
I and my friends stopped at Swan's Hotel. 



182 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Gen. Dodge, Judge Wilson and others put up at 
Crummey's Hotel in the lower part of the city. 
The Convention was held the same evening we 
reached the city, when I was nominated on the 
third ballot, by a handsome majority over my 
nine or ten competitors. Judge Thomas S. Wil- 
son and Stephen Hempstead, of Dubuque, 
Judge James Grant of Davenport, Judge J. F. 
Kinney, of West Point in Lee County, Col. Ed- 
ward Johnstone of Lee County, Gen. Fletcher of 
Muscatine, and others. As soon as I was nom- 
inated we heard the great shout, "Hurrah for 
Dodge and Jones", reverberating, and directly 
my room was filled by my friends, who seized 
me and putting me on their shoulders, carried 
me down to meet Gen. Dodge and his friends 
and to go to a saloon to get some oysters, wine, 
cake, etc. We had a real ** feast of reason and 
flow of soul. ' ' 

The next morning Gen. Dodge called on me 
and said : ' ' Ought we not to be grateful to God 
Almighty and our countrymen for the great 
honors conferred upon us!" "Yes, Augustus, 
but we have got to work now," I replied. 

Gen. Dodge and I went on to Washington. 
On going into the Senate Chamber to take our 
seats, as a member of that body was delivering 
a speech, I suggested to Gen. Dodge that we go 
up to Col. Benton and shake hands with him. 



LEGISLATIVE MATTERS 183 

We did so ; when taking each of us by the hand, 
he sang out in a loud voice, interrupting the 
proceedings of the Senate: ''This is too good! 
too good! too good! Two of the sons, whom I 
knew as children, of two of my oldest and best 
Missouri friends come here to be my brother 
Senators". Continuing, he declared: ''Both of 
your fathers worked to make me Missouri's 
first United States Senator.''^^^ (Col. Benton 
remained our devoted friend as long as he 
lived.) He then said: "Mr. President, I move 
that all other business be now suspended, that 
these gentlemen may be sworn in and take their 
seats. "^^^ The President put the motion, 
which was adopted. Col. Benton led us around 
and introduced us to the Vice President of the 
United States, then presiding, when we were 
sworn in and drew lots for seats. ^^^ Gen. 
Dodge drew the short term, and I the long. We 
telegraphed that drawing to the legislature, 
when Gen. Dodge was elected for the next long 
term, to end March 4, 1855. 

When Gen. A. C. Dodge and I called to see 
President Polk, on reaching Washington, he 
said to us that ' ' there are no two men in Iowa or 
the United States whom I would rather wel- 
come to Washington City as Senators from the 
new State of Iowa than General A. C. Dodge 
and yourself." And his future course proved 
the sincerity of his remarks. 



184 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Gen. Dodge and I left Iowa City, the then seat 
of government of Iowa, on the morning of the 
8th of December, 1848, for Washington City, he 
to go by his home at Burlington and I by mine 
at Dubuque. He had much the better and 
shorter route to travel, and stages to ride in, 
while I often had to ride much of the way in 
farm wagons, when our stages would get stuck 
in the frozen mud or deep snow. He reached 
the Federal City on the 24th and I on the 25th 
of December, and we were sworn in on the next 
day, the 26th of December, 1848. He went di- 
rectly to Brown's, now the Metropolitan Hotel. 
I had been informed, on my arrival, that Gen. 
Dodge was boarding at Gilbert's, on the South 
side of Pennsylvania Avenue at the corner of 
5tli Street. Upon reaching the door, Mr. Gil- 
bert met me, and I immediately engaged my 
room with him, and called for Gen. Dodge. He 
ushered in Governor Dodge, who told me that 
Augustus would not board there because the 
great abolitionist Wilmot, and others of his pol- 
itics, were messing there. Gen. A. C. Dodge 
soon came and consented to take a room there, 
as I thought we could get along, insomuch as his 
father and Senator Felch of Michigan, Demo- 
crats also, were in the mess. We took the only 
two vacant rooms in the third story. I soon 
found that the General, my colleague, was a 
great cigar smoker, a habit I detested, and so I 



LEGISLATIVE MATTERS 185 

had our servant stuff, with cotton, the cracks 
around the door between our two rooms, and 
even the keyhole, to keep the disagreeable smell 
of cigars out of my apartment. He frequently 
came into my room smoking, notwithstanding 
my protests, and until I locked him out, when he 
promised that ' ' If you will let me in I will never 
smoke again!" And he never did from that 
time, for which he often sincerely thanked me. 

After Mr. Buchanan's inauguration I called 
upon him and said : ' ' I am about to return home 
to Iowa and would like to know, Mr. President, 
what you intend to do with the men (all Demo- 
crats) now holding office in my State." 
''Why", he said, ''you and my Cabinet are op- 
posed to rotation and we have determined to 
keep them all in office, but it will break down the 
party unless we put new men in the places now 
filled, although the incumbents are all Demo- 
crats." 

A short time after my return home, I saw the 
announcement in the organ of the party at 
Washington of the removal of my old and val- 
ued friend. Col. Wm. Patterson, the Post Master 
at Keokuk, and the appointment of Mr. Wall- 
ing, whom I had refused to appoint or recom- 
mend for the place before I left Washington. 
I wrote a letter to Gen. Cass, telling him of my 
conversation with Mr. Buchanan and demand- 
ing the immediate restoration of Col. Patterson. 



186 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Gen. Cass took my letters to the President, who 
soon had Col. Patterson restored. When Gen. 
Pierce came into the White House, in March, 
1853, Gen. Dodge, Mr. Henn, our noble colleague 
of the House of Eepresentatives, and I went to 
call upon the President. Gen. Dodge was de- 
layed and Mr. Henn and I sent in our cards. 
Mr. Pierce sent word to us to be seated in his 
private room at Willard's Hotel. He soon en- 
tered when he threw his arms around me and I 
introduced Mr. Henn to him. During our con- 
versation, addressing me, he said: "I want you 
to come to see me before you leave, to tell me 
whom you wish removed and whom appointed 
in Iowa." I told him that my colleague and I 
would write him on the subject. Gen. Dodge 
and I never differed as to any appointment ex- 
cept as to the Register of the Land Office at 
Dubuque. He was for Col. McHenry and I was 
for Alexander D. Anderson. I knew the two 
gentlemen of my town well. Mr. Henn voted 
with Gen. Dodge and they had Mr. McHenry 
appointed The Colonel was after- 
wards removed and I recommended Hon. A. D, 
Anderson, who was appointed, and gave great 
satisfaction to the Department, as did also my 
beloved friends Patrick Quigley and Thomas 
McKnight, whom I had appointed as Receiver 

and Depository of Public Monies 

As Senator I was made Chairman of the Com- 



LEGISLATIVE MATTERS 187 

mittee on Pensions, having Senators Seward, 
Sumner, and other distinguished Senators on 
my Committee. I was also Chairman of the 
Committee on Enrolled Bills and was selected 
as the Senator from the North West by Judge 
Douglas on the great California Special Com- 
mittee of 1850.^^^ I do not think that I ever 
missed any session of any Committee to which 
I belonged, and as Chairman of the Committee 
on Enrolled Bills I presented all bills to the 
President for his approval. I therefore became 
very intimate with Mr. Buchanan, as I had been 
with all the Presidents whom I had ever known 
— every one, in fact, since the time of James 
Monroe, no one of them being more sincerely 
attached to me than John Quincy Adams, who 
was elected by the House of Representatives in 
February, 1825, except, perhaps. Gen. Jackson, 
J. K. Polk, and Franklin Pierce, who treated 
me as if I had been their brother or son. 

As I came home from Congress in 1857 or 
1858,^^^ I had the honor and pleasure of riding 
in the car with my old friend, Gen. Burnett, of 
the United States army, and to whom Gen. Jack- 
son assigned the sword '*to be given to the 
officer whom Gen. Jackson, as umpire, should 
decide to have been the bravest officer in the 
Mexican war." We put up at ''Jones Hotel" 
in Philadelphia. On meeting at about twelve 
o'clock that night, after visits to our respective 



188 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

friends, lie said: "I met Ex-Governor Porter, 
of Pennsylvania, who told me that he had called 
to see his old friend. President Buchanan, who 
said, in answer to the inquiry as to whom he 
intended to nominate for Post Master General, 
vice Ex-Governor Brown, then just deceased, 
that 'Gen. Jones is the man whom I would pre- 
fer, but my friends object upon the ground that 
Gen. Jones is a Northern man and that he would 
give the preponderance in my Cabinet to the 
North over the South, etc., etc. I tell them that 
Gen. Jones is as much opposed to Abolitionism 
as any man in the South.' " 



VII 

Douglas and the Illinois Central Railroad 

When the bill to aid in the construction of the 
I. C. E. R. was under consideration in the Sen- 
ate for the last time, I went to Judge Douglas, 
who sat near by, and showed him the following, 
which I proposed to offer as an amendment: 
instead of saying '*to Galena", ''via Galena to 
Dubuque, in the State of Iowa." He replied: 
"That is a very proper amendment and I am 
glad you suggest it. ' ' General Shields, his col- 
league, coming up at that moment, I presented 
the amendment to him, saying : ' ' Your colleague 
approves of this amendment. What say you to 
it I" He replied: "I am glad you propose to 
offer it. " I then sent it to the Secretary where 
it was read, after which I said: "Mr. President, 
this amendment which I offer and which is ac- 
cepted by both Senators from Illinois, merely 
proposes to extend the road fifteen or eighteen 
miles farther west and make it terminate at 
Dubuque, Iowa, on the Mississippi River, a nav- 
igable stream, instead of Fever River, which is 
nearly half of the year not navigable, to connect 
with the proposed Iowa Railway from Dubuque 
to Sioux City." 

189 



190 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

This bill was in a few moments finally passed 
and sent to the House for concurrence.^ ^^ The 
next morning, on Pennsylvania Avenue, near 
the Tiber, I met Colonel Baker,^^- who said: 
' ' General, I never can agree to that amendment 
of yours as it takes the termination of that road 
from my town, Galena, to Dubuque, its rival." 
He added: "I will have it stricken out in the 
House." We argued the subject for some time, 
when he pursued his way up to the Capitol, 
while I went directly to Judge Douglas' resi- 
dence and told him of my conversation with 
Baker. He said: ''Have no fears, General, on 
this subject. I'll speak to our colleague in the 
House and your amendment shall not be strick- 
en out." 

The bill was passed as amended by myself. 
At the subsequent session of Congress when the 
bill making the grant of land to the State of 
Iowa to aid in the construction of her proposed 
railroads was called up in the House for con- 
sideration, Hon. Thompson Campbell, successor 
of Kepresentative Baker from the Jo Daviess 
district, made an earnest speech in opposition 
to the passage of the bill. Hon. Bernhart Henn, 
Representative from the Fairfield (Iowa) dis- 
trict, in reply said that Mr. Campbell's attack 
was a very unjust one, considering the earnest 
support which had been given to the Illinois 
Central Railway bill by the Iowa delegation. 



DOUGLAS AND THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL 191 

Thereupon, Mr. Campbell said that the Iowa 
Senators had received a consideration for the 
support they had given to the Illinois Central 
Railroad bill.^''^ And our bill was defeated. 

A heated newspaper controversy took place 
between my colleague and myself and Mr. 
Campbell, which came near terminating in a 
duel between the last named and myself. Judge 
Douglas was not then in Washington City, and 
when he reached the city Mr. Campbell gave 
Judge Douglas as his authority for saying that I 
had received the consideration referred to by 
the Illinois Senators allowing my amendment, 
making Dubuque instead of Galena the north- 
western terminus of the Illinois Central Rail- 
way. 

As soon as I learned that Judge Douglas was 
in his committee room in the Senate, I sent word 
to his colleague and mine to meet me there — 
which they did. Then I said to Judge Douglas 
in a threatening tone: "You have told Mr. 
Campbell, your colleague, of the House, an in- 
famous falsehood, in reference to your action 
and mine in relation to my amendment to the 
I. C. R. R. bill. Our respective colleagues, now 
here, know that you not only made no objection 
to my amendment, but that you thanked me for 
making it." General Shields and General 
Dodge, both, then said that they knew of no ob- 
jection to my amendment, when Judge Douglas 



192 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

replied : * ' I know, General, that I did not make 
any objection to your amendment but freely 
and gladly accepted it, for I believed then, as I 
do now, that it was a very proper one. I had 
no idea that Mr. Campbell, or any one else, 
would oppose it. I admit that I did misrepre- 
sent the case to Mr. Campbell, thinking that 
would terminate the matter. ' ' 

In 1858, when Judge Douglas and Mr. Lin- 
coln stumped the State of Illinois as candidates 
for the United States Senate, Judge Douglas 
sent a letter to a Galena newspaper to be read 
on the day of the election at that place, all which 
fully appears from the following correspond- 
ence which was published in Chicago, New 
York, and Washington City during the Christ- 
mas holidays of 1858-1859. 

An Article Copied from the 

FORT DODGE SENTINEL 

Saturday, January 15, 1859. 



Letter from Senator Jones to Senator Douglas.^^* 



The following editorial and letter from the Galena 
Courier of the 2d instant, have called forth the let- 
ter below from Gen. Jones, U. S. Senator from Iowa. 
It serves up the Illinois Senator in pointed style, 
while it conclusively refutes his charge respecting 
Senator Jones : 



DOUGLAS AND THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL 193 

[From the Galena Courier, November 2nd.] 
A BASE CALUMNY LETTER FROM MR. DOUGLAS 

At the last hour, when it is impossible to stop the 
calumny, the enemies of Senator Douglas have start- 
ed the slander that in his action in securing the 
Illinois Central Railroad Grant, he wilfully sacrificed 
the interests of Galena. Without expecting that the 
refutation will go as far as the falsehood, neverthe- 
less, in justice to Mr. Douglas, we publish the follow- 
ing letter from him on this very subject. It answers 
the charge and vindicates him from all blame. — What 
were the circumstances ? — Gen. Jones had it in his 
power to defeat the measure which has made Illinois 
what she is to-day — one of the first States in the 
Union. He expressed his immovable determination 
to exercise his power, and thereby sacrifice not only 
Galena hut a great State; not only one town, but a 
hundred towns with claims equal to Galena, and for 
what? For what would he have kept the millions of 
acres in Illinois, now dotted all over with farmhouses, 
school-houses, churches, and peopled by hundreds of 
thousands of honest yeomanry, in a condition no bet- 
ter than that of a barren desert — for what would he 
have defeated the measure that has raised the value 
of Illinois State Stocks from 16 cents on the dollar to 
103 and 105 — a condition of solvency second to no 
State in the Union — for what would General George 
Washington Jones (who now comes in as a witness 
against Senator Douglas,) have sacrificed all this 
greatness and prosperity? Simply to get the road to 
terminate at Dubuque ! Was it not an exalted, states- 

13 



194 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

manlike course? — Does it not damn this man Jones 
to infamy for allowing a narrow-contracted local feel- 
ing to imperil a mighty measure for the good of an 
empire? He had it in his power to kill the bill that 
had been brought to the very point of success by the 
herculean efforts of Douglas, and he vowed his pur- 
pose to do it, for the paltry reason that it provided 
that the terminus should be at Galena instead of Du- 
buque. We ask any man, had he occupied the position 
that Douglas did, as the champion of the measure, if 
he would not have pursued the precise course that 
Douglas did — yield to the demand of the incompat- 
ible Jones, for the sake of securing the end in view? 
But he did not do this until he had full consultation 
with all the members of both Houses of Congress from 
Illinois Whigs and Democrats, and they became con- 
vinced that there was no other alternative. We say 
he acted the part of a statesman, and we honor him 
for rising above the standard of such puny whipsters 
as your Jones, and your Washburnes, and others of 
that ilk, who cannot comprehend a policy higher than 
dollars and cents. We honor the man who, though 
compelled to yield a point, did so, believing that the 
interests of a great State were paramount to those of 
one town. 

Suppose Mr. Douglas had insisted on keeping the 
terminus at Galena, and Jones had defeated the bill, 
where would the execrations of the people of this 
State have fallen? — We opine that even Galenians 
would have united with the whole State in denouncing 
him as having acted with consummate folly. No man 
could stand before the outraged thousands and say 



DOUGLAS AND THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL 195 

that such a policy was right. Galena is said to have 
lost by it; if so, hold Jones responsible, and not the 
man who had not the power to change the determina- 
tion of the Iowa Congressional delegation, and others, 
holding the balance of power. Hold the local Repre- 
sentative, Baker — who was not a Democrat, respon- 
sible for not attending to his duties ; but do not thrust 
the responsibility for his neglect and incompetency 
upon Douglas, who was working for the best interest 
of every town in the State of Illinois. 

The presentation of the charge by the republicans 
at this moment is infamous and cowardly. They could 
have made it months ago, as well as now; but they 
knew it was unjust and could be refuted. There are 
some other matters involved, of which we could speak ; 
but as the slander has been produced for the use of 
a day, we are content to leave the vindication of Mr. 
Douglas to the judgment of more candid men. The 
following is his letter, written from Winchester, in 
this State, in August last : 

Winchester, Aug. 7, 1858. 
My dear Sir:— 

Your letter of the 28th of July, communicating to 
me the fact that there is a rumor in circulation in 
Galena, supposed to have come from Gen. Jones, of 
Iowa, that pending the Illinois Central Railroad 
Grant in the Senate of the United States, an arrange- 
ment was made between him and me, by which the 
interests of Galena were sacrificed to those of Du- 
buque is received. I have a distinct recollection of 
the facts of the case, and they are in substance as 
follows ; — The bill, as drawn and introduced into 



196 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Congress by myself, provided for a railroad from the 
southern terminus of the Illinois and Michigan Canal 
to the mouth of the Ohio River, with a branch to 
Chicago and another to Galena, the northwestern 
terminus of the road. General Jones, his colleague, 
and perhaps some others, objected to Galena as a 
terminus on the ground that the road would not con- 
nect with the Mississippi River, and thus a hiatus 
would be created between the east and west side of the 
river. / endeavored to dissuade them from their ob- 
jections, and to induce them to allow the bill to pass 
in the shape I had introduced it, hut they ivere im- 
movable, AND INSISTED ON DEFEATING THE BILL UUleSS 

we would extend the road to Dubuque. Upon full 
consultation with my colleagues in both houses of 
Congress, it was determined to permit the alteration 
to be made, under the belief that the whole bill would 
be defeated unless we consented to the change, and 
we thought it better to allow the change to be made 
than to lose the bill altogether, although we did not 
think that our Iowa friends were treating us kindly 
by attempting to defeat a great measure for our State 
on a point of the kind. Under these circumstances, I 
did cheerfully acquiesce and concur in the determina- 
tion of the united delegation of the State, to agree 
to the change by which the road should be extended 
to Dubuque, but carefully omitting to provide at what 
point the crossing should be, whether at Dubuque, at 
Tete des Morts, or at any intermediate point. I will 
only add that any insinuation or intimation on the 
part of Gen. Jones, or any of his friends, that I had 
any collusion with him, and was willing to sacrifice 



DOUGLAS AND THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL 197 

the interests of Galena to those of Dubuque, or any 
other point, is basely and infamously false. 
Very respectfully. 

Your friend, 

S. A. Douglas. 
H. G. Crouch, Esq. 
Galena, Illinois. 



GEN. JONES ' LETTER IN EEPLY TO THE FOREGOING 

Dubuque, Iowa, Nov. 9, '58. 
Hon. S. a. Douglas, 
Chicago, 111. 
Sir: — Herewith is enclosed your letter dated 
August 7th, 1858, to H. G. Crouch, editor of the 
Galena, Illinois, Courier, cut from that paper of the 
2d instant, with the editorial accompanying the same, 
headed — ''A Base Calumny." I will not condescend 
to notice the scurrilous editorial, predicated upon the 
many tcilful [mis]i'epresentations of your letter, pre- 
ferring to deal with you, as more responsible than 
your instrument. I say "ivilful misrepresentation," 
because you say you "have a distinct recollection of 
the facts in the case, ' ' and because the journals of the 
Senate prove your statements to be wholly destitute 
of truth, so far as you refer to my colleague (Gen. 
A. C. Dodge,) myself and our friends as having ever 
expressed or entertained the idea, as you say, of "de- 
feating the bill unless the road was extended to Du- 
buque, " though we surely had as much right so to 
amend it as our Southern friends of Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee and Alabama had to suggest and require, as I 



198 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

think they did, that you should make the road extend 
to Mobile, through those three States. 

You knew well that neither you nor your colleague, 
Gen. Shields, ever had such consultation, either be- 
tween yourselves or your colleagues of the House, be- 
fore I offered my amendment to make the road ter- 
minate at this place, instead of at Galena. You 
moreover knew equally well that when I approached 
you towards the close of the debate in the Senate on 
the bill with my amendment, and asked you whether 
you had any objections to my offering it, stating as I 
did that it was merely to extend your road to Du- 
buque, 12 or 15 miles further West, that you not only 
freely assented thereto, but thanked me for the sug- 
gestion, and that I immediately thereafter, in your 
presence and hearing, obtained the assent of your col- 
leagues to the same effect ; — that I then offered it and 
it was passed without a dissenting vote or objection 
from any quarter whatever, as the records show. 

You must also recollect that within twenty-four 
hours after the passage of the bill through the Senate, 
I informed you that I had had a conversation with 
Col. Baker, the then Representative from Galena in 
Congress, and that he declared to me that he would 
not allow the bill to pass the House without having my 
amendment stricken from it, and that you then said 
that you cared not what Baker wished — that it was 
right that the road should terminate on the Missis- 
sippi, and so connect with our proposed railroad, and 
that you would so state to your colleagues, Col. Rich- 
ardson, Major Harris, and others of the House, who 
would take charge of the bill, and would prevent 



DOUGLAS AND THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL 199 

Baker from making any such amendment in that 
body. 

The assertion on your part that I or my colleague, 
or any one of our friends had determined to defeat 
your bill upon the ground stated by you, or for any 
other reason whatever is false, and its publication be- 
ing deferred until the day of the Illinois election, too 
late to be contradicted by myself or others, shows that 
you and he (your Galena organ) who acted for you, 
designed to mislead the Galena people, and accom- 
plish your selfish purpose. The journals and the de- 
bates of the Senate show that Gen. Dodge and I heart- 
ily cooperated with you and your colleague in every 
effort and every vote which was given on that ques- 
tion. For many considerations we could not but be 
deeply interested in the passage of that bill. 

At the celebration of the completion of the Illinois 
Central Railroad to Dunleith, held at this place in 
July, 1855, you complimented me, in exalted terms, in 
your speech on that occasion as the person who pro- 
cured the amendment, making Dubuque the terminus 
of the road, and although you knew that hundreds of 
your own constituents were there present, you did not 
intimate that the same had been done contrary to 
your wishes. You were then addressing an Iowa audi- 
ence whom you wished to propitiate. 

Again, sir, when you last visited Dubuque, (26th 
August, 1857,) you had an interview with J. B. Dorr, 
the editor of the Express and Herald of this city, 
who had, ever since you introduced the Kansas and 
Nebraska Bill in the Senate, been your bitter op- 
ponent, and the opponent of that measure. The next 



200 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

morning an editorial article appeared in that paper, 
of which the following is an extract: 

"But Illinois is not the only State which has been 
benefited by the policy and by the labors of Stephen 
A. Douglas. All the Western States are indebted to 
him for the material improvement which is observable 
within her borders. We believe, however, that our 
own State, Iowa, stands next to Illinois in her obliga- 
tions to Mr. Douglas. To him more than to any living 
man is owing the magnificent railroad system planned 
out for her — the system which is destined to make 
her one of the wealthiest and most important States 
in the West. Even our own good city of Dubuque 
owes, in a great measure, her present importance to 
the labors of Mr. Douglas. She knows that the ex- 
tension of the north western branch of the Illinois 
Central to the opposite bank of the Mississippi has 
greatly added to her prosperity, and the land grant 
roads running from here to the interior will still add 
more towards making her the commercial metropolis 
of the region North and West of Chicago. ' ' 

Two numbers of the paper containing the above ex- 
tract were sent to you the next day, one to Galena 
and the other to Chicago, with the expectation that 
you would have the honesty to spurn the offer thus 
made you by your neivly acquired advocate here, to 
the detriment of myself, for whom you then professed 
friendship. Instead of doing so, however, the same 
article was republished in the Times, your organ at 
Chicago, and that, too, within a very few days after 
it came out here, and whilst you were still at Chicago, 
and necessarily within your knowledge, if not at your 



DOUGLAS AND THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL 201 

request. Thus, sir, at one time you extolled me in 
unmeasured terms for causing Dubuque to be made 
the terminus of the Illinois Central Railroad when 
addressing an Iowa audience; at another, you allow 
Dorr, your ally and my unscrupulous opponent here, 
to filch that which justly belongs to me and appro- 
priate it to your temporary benefit. And now, when 
arraigned by your constituents for allowing me to 
make an amendment to your bill, to the disadvantage 
of Galena, (as the people there believe,) you resort to 
the dishonest and imworthy pretext of saying you 
were compelled either to allow the amendment to be 
made, or to lose the bill entirely, because "they (my- 
self and colleague) were immovable and insisted on 
defeating the hill,'' &c. Neither Gen'l Dodge, his 
father nor myself, ever voted against you or Gen'l 
Shields on any amendment or proposition offered to 
the bill. The vote was generally two to one in favor 
of the bill and it finally passed by yeas and nays 26 
to 14, so we had not, as you allege, the power to defeat 
the bill, as still it would have passed. 

My amendment was offered without consultation 
with any one, not excepting my own colleague, or any 
one of my constituents. I am proud of having pro- 
cured such a benefit for the State which has trusted 
and honored me, but I would spurn it had it been 
obtained "by collusion" with yourself or any one 
else — a charge never within my knowledge made at 
Galena or elsewhere, until now meanly insinuated by 
yourself. 

This, sir, is the third time that you have made "in- 
famously false" accusations against me, and that I 



202 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

have been compelled to fasten the lie upon you. 
Though you may, at the sacrifice of Democratic organ- 
ization, have effected a triumph in your own State, 
as you say "over Executive and Congressional dic- 
tation, ' ' I can but look with contempt upon any fame 
or position you may have acquired by a union with 
"white spirits and black, blue spirits and grey," 
Black Republicans, South Americans, disappointed 
office-seekers, &c., as I do upon the miserable resort 
to opprob[r]ious epithets connected with my name, 
but covered with a contingency which gave you a sure 
escape. 

George Wallace Jones. 

P. S. This was prepared at the time and place that 
it bears date, and would have been sent to you had I 
known where it would reach you. As you are still 
canvassing the country, I address it to you at your 
own home, and publish a copy of the same in order 
to make sure of it being seen by you, 

Geo. W. Jones. 

A day or two after the above publication ap- 
peared in the Chicago, New York, and Wash- 
ington papers, whilst in conversation with 
President Buchanan in his office at the Wliite 
House, his messenger announced ''Mr. Davis" 
at his door. Mr. Buchanan replied: "Tell him 
I am engaged". I immediately asked the mes- 
senger: "What Mr. Davis is itf" His answer 
was, "Senator Davis of Mississippi." "Let 
him come in, Mr. Buchanan", I requested, "I 
have no secrets from Mr. Davis." The latter 



DOUGLAS AND THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL 203 

was ushered in and seated himself by us, when 
Mr. Buchanan said to me: ''General, I hear a 
good deal of talk about a letter which you have 
written to Douglas and which has appeared in 
the newspapers." Davis, turning to me, re- 
marked: ''You read it to me this morning; 
have you not got it with you now 1 ' ' On reply- 
ing that I had, Mr. Buchanan asked me to read 
it to him, which I did. When he remarked: 
"Douglas will challenge you as soon as he 
reaches the city." "That is what I expect and 
desire", I replied. The same day, as I walked 
through the upper hall at the Metropolitan 
Hotel, I met Justice Catron of the Supreme 
Court, and saluted him in passing, when he 
asked : " Is not this Senator Jones ? " I replied : 
"Yes, sir." He said: "Stop, I want to speak 
to you. This morning when my colleagues and 
I met in the Court room, reference was made to 
your letter to Douglas, and with the consent of 
the Chief Justice, it was read, when every one 
of us declared it was the most severe arraign- 
ment ever made against Judge Douglas." 

Judge Douglas never spoke to me after this. 

The accompanying letters sustain my posi- 
tion in this matter : — 

Washington, November 19, 1858. 
My dear Friend : — 

I have no very distinct recollection of the minute 
circumstances attending your amendment to the Illi- 



204 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

nois Land Grant Bill extending the Railroad line from 
Galena to Dubuque, but I know you made that amend- 
ment with my consent and take it for granted with 
the consent of Judge Douglas also. I do not remem- 
ber a single objection made to your amendment in the 
Senate by any one at the time it was offered, or at 
any other time. I have no recollection of any con- 
sultation between my colleagues and myself in refer- 
ence to that amendment and never entertained a 
doubt but the bill would receive the hearty support 
of your colleague. General Dodge, and yourself, 
whether the amendment was adopted or rejected; 
certainly neither of you ever intimated to me any 
intention to oppose our bill under any circumstances. 
On the contrary, I regarded you both as our best 
friends. I hope this reply will suffice to cover all 
your inquiries and therefore hasten to send it to you. 
Yours sincerely, 

Jas. Shields. 
Honorable George W. Jones 
Dubuque, Iowa. 



Washington, Jan. 10, 1859. 
Dear Sir: — 

I have examined with much care your letter of 9th 
of November, 1858, to Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, as 
published in the Chicago Herald of December 16, 
1858. This letter is exactly what I expected in view 
of the high minded, honorable and independent 
course you have always pursued. 

The public characters of public men belong to the 
country, and when wilful misrepresentations are 



DOUGLAS AND THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL 205 

made of them, it is a duty the party maligned owes to 
himself and his fellow citizens to place the matter 
right. In doing this I much prefer such good, old 
English terms as you have used to more high sounding 
expressions, which might leave doubts on the minds 
of the readers of the intentions of the writer. 

Truly yours, 

John Wilson, 
Late Commissioner of the General Land Office. 
Gen. George W. Jones, U. S. Senate. 

The Supreme Judges and Messrs. Buchanan 
and Davis were not on very good terms with 
Judge Douglas; hence, probably, their favor- 
able opinion of my letter. 



VIII 
The Illinois Central Railkoad 

In 1858, whilst in the Senate, Lord Osborne, 
then President of the Illinois Central Railroad, 
called to see me in my lodgings at Miss Man- 
ning's in Washington. I was glad to meet him, 
and I told him I recollected spending a day with 
him with the Board of Directors, of which I was 
a member, at Dubuque. 

"Senator, I have come to ask a great favor 
of you." 

"What service can I render you?" I asked. 

"We understand", he said, "that you stand 
very high with Mr. Buchanan, and his adminis- 
tration. ' ' 

"Yes, sir, I believe they are all friends of 
mine; I know Mr. Buchanan is." 

"We have been trying for a week or two to 
induce the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Jacob 
Thompson, to certify to us some lands in Illi- 
nois, to enable us to continue the construction 
of our road, the Illinois Central Railroad. ' ' 

I replied: "Mr. Osborne, why do you come to 
me? I am Senator of Iowa, not of Illinois. 
Why not go to your Senators, Douglas and 
Shields, Col. Richardson,^ ^^ Maj. Harris, and 

206 



THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD 207 

the other members of the Illinois delegation." 

''Oh", he said, "we have all of them assisting 
us, but you stand higher with the Administra- 
tion. Senator, you certainly want the road ex- 
tended to Dubuque, don 't you ? ' ' 

I said: "Mr. Osborne, I will do anything in 
my power to aid you. ' ' 

He said: "Senator, I suppose you have a 
'pass' on our road?" 

"No, sir, I have not; I have no occasion to 
use one. I come from Dubuque to Chicago in 
stages and from there by railroad or steam- 
boat." 

He said: "That is a great shame. General, 
that you have not had a pass; here is one for 
yourself and family". And he pulled one out 
of his pocket all ready prepared. 

"Oh!" I said, "Mr. Osborne, I don't want a 
' pass '. I will do all I can for you without any. ' ' 

He insisted on my taking it, saying that some 
day when the road was completed to Mobile I 
might want to take a trip South with my fami- 
ly; and I took the "pass". 

"Now", said I, "Mr. Osborne, give me your 
petition and papers and I'll go to see the Presi- 
dent to-night on this subject. Come back in the 
morning after you have had your breakfast, 
and I will tell you how I have succeeded with 
the President." 

He left me shortlj^ after this, and that night 



208 GEOKGE WALLACE JONES 

I went to see the President. On entering I said : 
''Mr. President, I have come to ask an extraor- 
dinary favor of you in relation to an Illinois, 
not an Iowa, matter." 

"What is it. General?" 

I said: "The President of the L C. E. E. Co., 
Mr. Osborne, its secretary and engineer, and 
the Illinois delegation, have been trying for a 
week or two to induce Secretary Thompson to 
certify more of the lands to them granted by the 
act of Congress for the construction of the I. C. 
E. E." 

"What do you want me to do. General," 

' ' I want you to write on the back of this, their 
petition, an order to the Secretary to grant 
their prayer." 

He said : ' ' General, have you been to see Mr. 
Thompson on this subject?" 

"No, sir, I preferred to come to head-quar- 
ters." 

He took up his pen, and directed the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury [Interior] to grant the 
petition. 

The next morning Mr. Osborne again called 
on me and asked : ' ' AVhat success. General 1 ' ' 

"Oh, sir, complete success; here is an order 
from the President to Mr. Thompson to grant 
the prayer of the petition. I'll go with you now 
to see Mr. Thompson and deliver this order 
from the President." 



THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD 209 

On entering Secretary Thompson's room in 
the Interior Department, I handed the Presi- 
dent's order to him. 

He said: ''General, I'll be d d if I don't 

believe that the President would give all the 
lands in Illinois to this d d rascally Com- 
pany, if you asked him to do it. Now, sir, the 
Company will sell those lands, get all the mon- 
ey, keep it, and never build any Railroad." 

*'0h!" said I, ''Jake, that is no business of 
yours. ' ' 

"Well", he said, "I know it, but I can't help 
it." 

He certified the lands to the Company, who 
went on immediately to continue the construc- 
tion of the road from a few miles north of 
Springfield to Dubuque. 

When I left Dubuque on April 17, 1859, to go 
on my mission to Bogota, as Minister, I used 
the pass for the first time for my son Charles 
and myself as far as Pana, on the way to Wash- 
ington. The next time I offered that pass was 
after my return from Bogota, when a large 
party of Democrats, in 1862, went from Du- 
buque to Galena to celebrate the return of 
Johnson and Sheean from Fort Lafayette, 
where they had been imprisoned as I had been. 
In crossing the river in the ferry-boat with the 
conductor of the railroad, we were very hilari- 
ous and joyful. When the conductor, Warren, 

14 



210 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

came into the car at Dunleith, now East Du- 
buque, to gather the tickets, I presented my 
pass. He looked at me rather sourly and put 
my pass in his pocket and walked off. I called 
out that he had forgotten to return my pass. 
"No!" he answered, "I take it up". I asked, 
"By what authority?" He answered, "By the 
authority of the Board of Directors at Chi- 
cago ' ', and went on. I was at that moment sit- 
ting by the side of Hon. Ben. M. Samuels, a 
distinguished lawyer. I asked him if the con- 
ductor had a right to take up my pass in that 
way. He asked me how I came to get it. I told 
him from President Osborne, as stated above. 
Mr. Samuels said: "No, General, he has no 
right to take it from you, for Mr. Osborne would 
have given you $50,000 for the service you ren- 
dered him with Mr. Buchanan, but the I. C. R. 
E. Co. have a great many distinguished lawyers 
and the pass would cost you more than it is 
worth if you were to go to law for redress." I 
replied: "Perhaps I will get a chance at them 
some time yet. ' ' 

A very short time after, when I went down 
to my office one day in the Jones block, Mr. 
Deery said that Col. Allison, one of the attor- 
neys of the I. C. R. R., had been there several 
times to see me. Mr. Deery said: "You had 
better go now and see him at his office in the 
Free-Mason block." I did so. Mr. Crane, then 



THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD 211 

partner and associate attorney with Allison, 
said that Mr. Allison had just gone down town. 
I asked: "Do you know what he wants to see 
me for?" 

"He wants to see you about an unoccupied 
lot that you own at Dunleith. ' ' I left the office 
and walked down the steps saying to myself, 
' ' Now is my chance. ' ' I had seen a hundred or 
more men at work on my lot making a switch 
for the transfer of their cars to their large 
steamboats, as I rode up the river en route to 
McGregor in company with Gen. Hodgdon, and 
I remarked to him that ' ' those men are building 
their road on my lot; I'll make them pay for 
it." 

As I returned from McGregor, I saw Col. 
Allison standing at the stairway leading to my 
office. He hailed me and asked if he could see 
me for a few moments. We entered, and he be- 
gan by saying: "General, I am just from Chi- 
cago. Our company, the Illinois Central, want 
to get an unoccupied, deserted lot of yours at 
Dunleith, either on a lease or by purchase." 

I replied: "It is for sale, but not for lease.' ^ 

"What will you take for it?" 

I replied: "Well, Colonel, as they are old 
friends of mine, I'll let them have it cheap. 
They may have it for five thousand dollars 
cash." 

"Oh!" said he, "I've been told that you of- 



212 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

fered the lot to one of Merry's firemen for one 
hundred and seventy-five dollars." 

''Yes, Colonel", said I, ''but he is a poor 

hard-working Irish Democrat, not a d d, 

rascally, ungrateful Eailroad Company." 

He laughed, and turned to leave, saying: "I 
see you don't want to sell it." 

"Yes, I do. Colonel, but I made a mistake. 
I'll sell it to your company for five thousand 
dollars cash and a pass for myself and family 
as long as I live." 

He laughed and went out as I said : ' ' This is 
Monday morning. Now, if you don't take it by 
Saturday next, before banking hours, the price 
will be ten thousand and a pass." 

A few days before that time, my agent at 
Dunleith, Mr. Garnick, told me he had good 
news for me. He said, "Mr. Clark, engineer of 
the Illinois Central, is building a switch on your 
lot No. lA, and I told him that he was tres- 
passing on your property." 

I told him I had seen them at work on it, and 
it was unwise in him to warn Mr. Clark (who 
afterwards became President of the road) ; that 
instead of making him pay me five or six hun- 
dred for that lot, I would not let them have it 
for less than five thousand. 

" Oh ! " he said, ' ' General, you '11 break up the 
sale. They'll take the road up, and you will not 
be able to sell it at all. ' ' 



THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD 213 

My nephew, Mr. Gregoire, had said the same 
thing. 

On the Friday following my conversation 
with Col. Allison, Mr. Crane came into my office 
and said, 

''General, I have just received a dispatch 
from Col. Allison saying that we will take that 
lot of yours at Dunleith ; ' ' and he handed me for 
execution a bond-for-deed to the Illinois Cen- 
tral, the deed to be given if my title to the lot 
should be proved to be perfect, he to go to 
Galena that day to examine the records there. 
The bond read for five thousand dollars simply. 

I said: "Mr. Crane, five thousand dollars is 
not the consideration. It is five thousand dol- 
lars and a pass for myself and family as long as 
Hive." 

''Oh, yes", he said, "General, I'll see that 
you get the pass. ' ' 

"Yes", I said, "and so will I see. If you 
will interline in this bond five thousand dollars 
and a pass, I'll sign the bond, and not without." 
He did so. 

He said : " I '11 go to Galena now, and if I find 
your title perfect, will pay you. ' ' 

I put my hand into my green box and drew 
out a deed for that identical lot, assigned to me 
upon the partition of the Dunleith property be- 
tween the heirs of Gregoire, the Illinois Cen- 
tral, and myself. I asked Mr. Crane to bring 
me a dozen blank deeds from Galena. 



214 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Mr. Crane returned the following day, and 
said: ''General, your title to the lot is perfect, 
and as soon as you make me the deed I'll pay 
you for it." 

I handed him my deed to that lot, written out 
in one of the deed-forms. 

"As I go home, I'll take the deed to my wife 
to sign before Mr. Deery, a Notary Public." 

As I went home by his office, he handed it to 
me with the consideration of five thousand dol- 
lars set forth. "Wliy!" said I, "you forgot to 
put in the consideration, 'pass, etc' ". 

He said: "You don't want that in the deed, 
do you I" 

' ' Yes ! " I said, " I do when I deal with a Rail- 
road Company. I'll take every precaution nec- 
essary." 

On my return I went into his office with the 
deed signed and acknowledged by myself and 
my wife. He then took me down into Mr. Far- 
ley's office and said: "Mr. Farley, General 
Jones has made the deed and wants the money 
and passes." 

Mr. Hewitt, whom I had never met, was sit- 
ting at a table, writing. He turned and was 
introduced to me by Mr. Farley. He asked me 
if a check on Chicago would do me for the 
money, and if two or three passes would do me 
imtil he could get the printed ones from Chi- 
cago. He told Mr. Farley to send him a list of 



THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD 215 

Gen. Jones' family and he would send a pass 
for all, which he did a few days afterwards. 

The next time I met Col. Allison he asked: 
''You received your money and passes?" 
' ' Yes ' ', I replied, ' ' like a fool, I asked only five 
instead of ten thousand dollars!" ''Yes", he 
replied, "you could have got it." 



IX 

Minister to Bogota 

On the 8th day of March, 1859, four days after 
the expiration of my second term as Senator 
from Iowa, I was dining at the Kirkwood 
House, Washington, D. C, when Senator Nich- 
olson of Tennessee entered. As he passed me 
he said: "We have just unanimously confirmed 
your nomination as Minister." I called him 
back and asked him, ' ' What Minister ? ' ' He re- 
plied, ''Minister to Bogota." 

After dinner, as I walked home, the news- 
boys were crying their papers, saying: "All 
about the nomination of Gen. Jones as Min- 
ister." On reaching my parlor, I found my 
table covered with notes and cards of congrat- 
ulation on my appointment. I ordered my 
servant to call a carriage, and drove to the resi- 
dence of the Secretary of State, Gen. Lewis 
Cass. I went in and tendered him my sincere 
thanks, and asked him how I came to be ap- 
pointed. He replied: "Wlien we went into 
Cabinet meeting this morning. President Bu- 
chanan read to us a message which he had sent 
to the Senate, nominating you as Minister to 
Bogota, New Granada" (now the United States 

216 



MINISTER TO BOGOTA 217 

of Colombia). Gen. Cass assured me that every 
member of the Cabinet expressed satisfaction 
at my appointment, agreeing that I was in every 
way qualified, particularly because of my "be- 
ing a Catholic and having the manners of a 
Frenchman", and that I would soon settle our 
difficulties with that country. The United 
States was then without a Minister to Bogota. 
I said to Gen. Cass: "I am very grateful for 
this appointment, sir, but I have come to de- 
cline it, because I am tired of public life." 
Gen. Cass urged me to reconsider this decision. 
But as I persisted in my refusal he said: "Well, 
go to the President yourself, and inform him 
that you will not accept ; the Senate is in execu- 
tive session now but will soon adjourn, and Mr. 
Buchanan must have time to nominate some one 
else." 

I drove to the White House. On entering the 
President's office, I found a gentleman sitting 
with his back to me talking to the President. 
He arose as I entered, and I recognized Gen. 
Kemble of New York, with whom I had served 
in Congress when Delegate from Michigan Ter- 
ritory, and who was a warm friend of mine. 
He left immediately and I said to the President : 
"I have come to thank jou, sir, as I most sin- 
cerely do, for the distinguished honor you have 
conferred on me and to say that I must respect- 
fully decline the same." I told Mr. Buchanan 



218 GEOEGE WALLACE JONES 

that I had been obliged to leave the South, in 
1827, on account of my health ; that I had filled 
a great many offices and wished now to retire to 
private life. Mr. Buchanan said : ' * Oh, yes, that 
is always the way with you young men. You 
do not know what you want. You think you are 
tired of public life, but you are not. When Gen. 
Jackson came to the Presidency, March 4, 1829, 
he tendered me the appointment of Secretary of 
State, which I declined, believing, as you do 
now, that I was tired of public life. The office 
of Secretary of State at that time was consid- 
ered the stepping stone to the Presidency. I 
went home to Lancaster, and in a short time 
became dissatisfied with the quiet life and glad- 
ly accepted the office of Minister to Russia. 
When you get back to Dubuque you will regret 
declining this appointment. ' ' I told him that I 
could not live in the South and that I had 
enough to live on the remainder of my life, and 
as my wife was of French descent, I was de- 
sirous of going to France. Mr. Buchanan said : 
"There is no vacancy there or I would gladly 
appoint you to that Mission." I replied: ''I do 
not mean that I want to go as your Minister to 
France, but I am of the opinion that the people 
of South America are behind the age in civil- 
ization." 

Mr. Cobb, the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
several other gentlemen were present, and over- 



MINISTER TO BOGOTA 219 

hearing the last remark, Mr. Cobb said: "Gen- 
eral, our friend Bowlin, while he was Minister 
to Bogota, wrote home that he was delighted 
with the society there ; that it was most charm- 
ing." (My residence for three years there as 
Minister verified the truth of this statement). 
Mr. Buchanan then asked me to reserve my de- 
cision until the Senate adjourned, and to call 
and see him in the meantime, and he would 
convince me that I was mistaken in not accept- 
ing the appointment. I sent a formal letter to 
Secretary Cass declining the appointment per- 
emptorily, and went home to Dubuque. Before 
leaving Washington, however, several physi- 
cians, friends of mine, told me they thought I 
was mistaken in my fear of the climate of Bo- 
gota ; and on my return to Dubuque my friends 
and family expressed their regret that I had de- 
clined the Mission. Drs. Finley, Horr, and 
Sprague agreed with the physicians at Wash- 
ington. 

About the 15th of April, shortly after my re- 
turn to Dubuque, Bishop Smith of the Catholic 
Church called at my house, and during the con- 
versation he said to me : ' ' General, I have a 
favor to ask of you." I replied: "You can ask 
no favors, dear Bishop, that I will not readily 
grant. " " Well ' ', he said, ' ' I want you to write 
to Mr. Buchanan and accept the Mission to Bo- 
gota." I replied: "I have no doubt. Bishop, 



220 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

that the Mission has been filled by this time." 
He turned to my daughter and said : ^ ' You see, 
Maria, your father wants to back out of his 
promise." ''Oh, no. Bishop", I said, '*I do not 
want to do that, but I am almost sure the place 
is filled." (I knew that Gouverneur Kemble 
and others were trying to get the appointment 
for their friends.) "Well", continued Bishop 
Smith, ''you write a note of acceptance to Sec- 
retary Cass and I will have Dennis [his coach- 
man] mail it as we drive down town." I told 
the Bishop that the proper etiquette was to 
write to the Secretary of State, and so ad- 
dressed a note to Secretary Cass, saying that if 
the President had not already filled the Mission 
to Bogota and was still willing that I should 
have it, that in consideration of the wishes of 
my friends I would yet accept it.^^*^ By return 
mail I received my commission with instruc- 
tions to go on to Washington immediately. 

I left home on the 17th of April and reached 
Washington on the 20th. I called immediately 
on Secretary of State Cass and he asked me if I 
had received my instructions. I replied: "No, 
sir, I do not know anything about instructions. ' ' 
He then inquired if I had seen Dr. Mackie. I 
said I did not know the gentleman; and Gen. 
Cass sent a messenger to the Doctor, who came 
in a few moments later, and after introducing 
us, the Secretary asked: "Doctor, have you 



MINISTER TO BOGOTA 221 

Gen. Jones' instructions drawn upT' The 
Doctor answered: ''I have not heard anything 
about them." Gen. Cass then said: "Doctor, 
draw them up immediately, for we want him to 
go as soon as possible." Dr. Mackie left the 
room on these orders, and the Secretary, turn- 
ing to me, said: "Now, General, cultivate the 
acquaintance of Dr. Mackie. He knows more 
about the duties of your office than Appleton 
[Assistant Secretary], myself, or the priest of 
all the world; and while I think of it, instruct 
your family to send all your mail through the 
State Department, as then it will go out with 
our dispatches to Bogota without postage and 
free from inspection." 

I then went to Dr. Mackie 's room and found 
the Doctor already engaged in writing my in- 
structions; and I asked him what my duties 
would be. He placed before me two or three 
large volumes, saying: "General, read these 
backwards and you will soon learn what your 
duties are." I remained with him until after 
office hours and then asked him to go to my 
hotel and dine with me. We became very warm 
friends during my stay in Washington, prior 
to my departure for Bogota. I paid no atten- 
tion to Mr. Hunter, the chief clerk over Dr. 
Mackie, who later, through jealousy, caused my 
arrest for writing a letter to Jefferson Davis. 

The same evening I called to pay my respects 



222 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

to President Buchanan and Miss Lane, his 
niece. Mr. Buchanan laughed heartily on see- 
ing me, saying: "I knew you would come to 
your senses by and by, so I kept the office open 
for you, though I have had many other appli- 
cants for it. ' ' And, later, he said to me : ' ' Gen- 
eral, bring your instructions to me when you 
get them. I want to see what they are." I 
took them to him a few days later, and, at his 
request, read them to him. When I had fin- 
ished, he exclaimed : ' ' What a talented man that 
Appleton is ! How beautifully these instruc- 
tions are drawn up!" I said: "Why do you 
say Appleton? No one but Dr. Mackie and my- 
self has seen these instructions." The Presi- 
dent asked: "Who is Dr. Mackie? I do not 
know any such man." I replied: "He is the 
chief of the South American Bureau in the 
State Department, and was appointed to that 
position by our old friend Clayton, when he was 
Secretary of State under Gen. Taylor." 

I took Dr. Mackie the next day and introduced 
him to the President. Dr. Mackie has ever 
since been my warm friend and correspondent 
and is one of the most splendid gentlemen I 
ever knew, a man of extraordinary mental abil- 
ity and acquirements and most gentle disposi- 
tion. My attentions to Dr. Mackie during my 
stay for instructions gave offense to Mr. Hunt- 
er, chief clerk of the State Department. 



MINISTER TO BOGOTA 223 

About April 29 I left Washington for New 
York on mj way to Bogota. I had with me my 
son Charles, who accompanied me as Secretary, 
and a man servant who had been with Gen. 
Herran, Minister Plenipotentiary to [from] 
Bogota. Wlien in New York I called upon 
Bishop Hughes with a letter of introduction 
from my friend Father Donaghoe of Dubuque, 
spiritual director of the Sisters of Charity, the 
Bishop receiving my son and myself most cor- 
dially. When leaving him, the Bishop called me 
to one side, saying: "General, Father Donag- 
hoe says you want to be baptized. ' ' I answered 
that I did. He asked me where I was stopping, 
and when I replied, "At the St. Nicholas Ho- 
tel", he said, "That is near my Cathedral; call 
there tomorrow morning at eight o'clock and I 
will baptize you." I did go, and he presented 
me with a letter of introduction to Archbishop 
Herran of Bogota. Father McCloskey, who 
was afterwards made first Cardinal of the 
United States, was my Godfather. I took with 
me, also, letters of introduction from the Pri- 
mate of Baltimore, Archbishop Kenrick, Bishop 
Timon of Buffalo, and others. I had a delight- 
ful trip from New York City to Aspinwall by 
the mail line steamship. At Aspinwall I was 
furnished with a passage in the United States 
man-of-war by order of Secretary Toucey of 
the United States Navy Department to Cartha- 
gena in New Granada. 



224 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

At Carthagena I was received with ''brasos 
abiertos" [open arms] by our accomplished 
consul, Mathieu, who escorted me to the Magda- 
lena Eiver, where we took passage on the steam- 
boat up the river to Honda. From Honda, we 
took mules to cross the mountains, and reached 
Bogota on the afternoon of the third day. "We 
were met by a number of distinguished officials 
and others, and escorted into the city. The sec- 
ond or third day after reaching there, calls were 
made upon me by President Marianna Ospina, 
Secretary Pardo (Secretary of Foreign Eela- 
tions), and other distinguished citizens and 
officials. It was Sunday — feast days and Sun- 
days are observed in that country by making 
calls, giving dinner parties, tertullias (dancing 
parties), etc. In the course of conversation, I 
asked Senor Santa Maria, who spoke very 
fluently the French language: "What is the 
meaning of your name, 'Santa Maria'?" "La 
Mere de Dieu", was his response. He was a 
very accomplished gentleman, one of the most 
popular, wealthy, and influential citizens of the 
Republic. I asked him where I could get a 
teacher to instruct me in the Spanish language. 
He replied: "Come to see my daughters; they 
speak French and Spanish equally well and will 
take pleasure in instructing you, as all the 
ladies will ; but do not go to the gentlemen. ' ' 

I found the ladies of Bogota among the most 



MINISTER TO BOGOTA 225 

charming, beautiful, and accomplished in the 
world, fair complexioned, and modest man- 
nered. I never saw a gentleman with a young 
lady without a chaperone. When visiting, the 
ladies sat on one side of the room and the gen- 
tlemen in a semi-circle around them. 

I followed the advice of Senor Santa Maria, 
visiting his daughters and other ladies fre- 
quently, with the determination of acquiring a 
knowledge of the Spanish language — an easy 
matter for any one acquainted with French and 
Latin — and I soon preferred speaking Spanish 
to English or French during my residence 
there. 

My son Charles, who was my Private Secre- 
tary, the moment I told him in Dubuque that I 
would take him with me, went to the bookstore 
and bought a Spanish dictionary, grammar, 
exercises, etc., and began to study the language ; 
but he never acquired facility in speaking it as 
I did. 

The day before my official public reception I 
received a note from Secretary Pardo in reply 
to one from myself, stating that President Os- 
pina would receive me whenever it was con- 
venient for me. I, however, deferred presenting 
my credentials formally because I was officially 
informed that the treaty between the United 
States and New Granada had not been ratified 
by the Congress of that country; and I sent my 

15 



226 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

son back as the bearer of my dispatches to my 
Government with the information that the 
treaty was not yet ratified and to learn what I 
should do in that emergency, as President Bu- 
chanan had informed me a day or two before I 
left Washington for Bogota that he would not 
allow me to go at all if he thought the treaty 
was not ratified by the Congress of New Gran- 
ada, as it had been by our Congress. 

I accompanied my son, who bore my dis- 
patches, taking with us my servant and the flag 
of my country, the Eepublic being then in the 
midst of civil war, as far as Honda, where I 
found Gen. Tomas C. D. Mosquera, Commander 
of the invading army, at the head of his forces, 
and where I was received with great pomp and 
ceremony by an officer of Gen. Mosquera 's 
army and conducted to his headquarters. He 
gave me a splendid dinner and told me he would 
in a short time take possession of the seat of 
Government of Bogota and expel Ospina and 
his party from the capital. Gen. Mosquera fur- 
nished my son with an escort to convey him to 
Carthagena on the coast, by bungo,^'^'^ where he 
took the regular mail steamer for Aspinwall, 
which he reached a few hours after the Amer- 
ican Steamer had left for New York. He was 
obliged to remain some two weeks for the next 
steamer, being unwilling to avail himself of the 
invitation extended to us by the Panama Rail- 



MINISTER TO BOGOTA 227 

road Company to accept their hospitality. He 
was as modest and unassuming as he was brave 
and intelligent. He always took the highest 
honors at his school, at the Western Military 
Institute, at Blue Lick Springs, Kentucky, 
where Mr. Blaine was one of his teachers. He 
went to a poor hotel, the only one there, where 
he contracted the Chagres fever, from which he 
never recovered. 

In a very few days, however, after my re- 
turn from seeing my son off for the United 
States, I learned that the treaty was ratified by 
the Congress of New Granada. I then notified 
Secretary Pardo that I would present my cre- 
dentials. He sent his reply to my note by a 
military officer at the head of fifteen or twenty 
soldiers, who presented the same in great mili- 
tary form. Not knowing a word of Spanish, I 
told my servant Juan to say to the gentlemen 
that I would return an answer next day. 

During the civil war, which was raging then, 
a gentleman named Arangurin, whose acquaint- 
ance I made in Bogota, asked me for a passport 
to enable him to return to his home at Mara- 
cajbo, Venezuela. I declined to give him the 
passport as he was not known to me to be a citi- 
zen of the United States. He, however, brought 
our mutual friends, Messrs. Nelson and Charles 
Bonito, and Mr. Michealson, charge d'affaires, 
who informed me that they had seen Mr. Aran- 



228 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

gurin's certificate of naturalization as a citizen 
of the United States. Two or three days inter- 
vened before I gave him the passport and I 
mentioned to Mrs. Mosquera and Mrs. Gen. 
Herran, her daughter (whose husbands, strange 
to say, were commanders of the opposing arm- 
ies), the circumstances concerning the passport. 
Mrs. Herran sent a messenger to her father in- 
forming him of my intention of giving Aran- 
gurin a passport. When I gave it to him, I in- 
structed him to go directly to the headquarters 
of Gen. Mosquera 's army, where he would be 
well received. Instead, however, of following 
my advice, he left the main road to Honda and 
travelled by an unfrequented route expressly 
to avoid Gen. Mosquera 's army. 

Gen. Mosquera having learned through his 
daughter, of the day that he, Arangurin, would 
leave Bogota, sent scouts out to the passes in 
the mountains ; and in one of those passes Aran- 
gurin was arrested with his servant and taken 
prisoner to Gen. Mosquera 's headquarters. 
Gen. Mosquera sent word through his wife and 
daughter, Mrs. Gen. Herran, that he had Aran- 
gurin a prisoner, and would have him shot the 
next day, and if I had anything to say about it, 
he would be glad to see me at his headquarters. 
I immediately wrote a dispatch and went with it 
to Gen. Mosquera 's headquarters, earnestly 
protesting against the execution of Arangurin, 



MINISTER TO BOGOTA 229 

as he bore my passport and I had good reason 
to believe that he was a naturalized citizen of 
the United States. Gen. Mosquera exhibited to 
me a contract which Arangurin had made with 
the Government at Bogota, to furnish them with 
five thousand stand of arms to carry on the civil 
war against him, but that in consequence of his 
personal regard for me and the admiration he 
had for my Government, he would not execute 
Arangurin, but would send him as a prisoner to 
be kept at the Fort of Carthagena until the war 
was over, which he said would not be long now, 
his army being in sight of Bogota. 

Gen. Mosquera gave my friend, Mr. Gooding, 
who accompanied me, and myself a splendid 
dinner. He told me he had received cartecas 
(small notes or letters) frequently, informing 
him that if he dared to enter Bogota with his 
invading army, as he intended to do, his wife 
and daughter, Mrs. Herran, and his four lovely 
grandchildren would all be executed. He add- 
ed: ''My wife and daughter at Bogota have 
received similar communications". And he re- 
quested that if I could render them any service 
and protection he wished that I would do so, 
but that he was determined to enter Bogota 
with his army. I was aware of the feeling 
which existed on the part of the conservatives 
against Gen. Mosquera and his family and had 
suggested to Gen. Herran that he would allow 



230 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

his family to come to my legation for safety. 
He, however, laughed at the idea of the enemy's 
daring to harm his residence and family. A 
day or two after this, G-eneral Herran came to 
my quarters and said he had, through his sister 
and brother, been credibly informed that if 
Gen. Mosquera should be successful in his at- 
tempt to take Bogota, the lives of his family 
would be endangered, and he asked me to give 
up my legation at the hotel and move it to his 
residence — a very splendid one — for the pro- 
tection of his family. I immediately sent my 
servant for a number of peons (servants) who 
moved my furniture, etc., to Gen. Herran 's resi- 
dence. I informed Secretary Pardo of the 
change of my location in the city and the estab- 
lishment of my legation at Gen. Herran 's. A 
few nights after my removal thither, a man, a 
ranchero (a roving soldier), came to see Mrs. 
Herran, claiming to be the bearer of a note from 
her father to her mother, Mrs. Mosquera. Mrs. 
Herran, however, refused to see him and he 
left. After the war was over I learned that the 
threats to assassinate the family would surely 
have been carried out but for the protection 
rendered by my legation. 

I witnessed the last battle between Gen. Her- 
ran 's (the conservative) army, and that of Gen. 
Mosquera, who entered Bogota triumphantly, 
re-organized the Government, and changed the 



MINISTER TO BOGOTA 231 

name of the country from New Granada to 
United States of Colombia. While I remained 
at Bogota I had frequent appeals made to me 
by Mosquera's opponents, and I freely and 
gladly extended my protection, and never un- 
successfully, as Gen. Mosquera was a warm 
friend of mine as long as I remained in Bogota. 
I used my potential influence with Gen. Mos- 
quera to protect his opponents from insults and 
outrages on the part of his army. 

Upon my intercession for Arangurin, Gen. 
Mosquera told me his daughter had informed 
him that President Ospina and a party of gen- 
tlemen would leave Bogota in a few days for 
Antioquia, to raise an army to defend Bogota, 
and he said: ''I'll take them all prisoners." 
This he did a few days later. Like Arangurin^ 
they had taken unfrequented passes through 
the mountains. He dismissed all except Ospina 
and his aspiring brother, the richest man in the 
Eepublic, and Bartholome Calva, then Secre- 
tary of Foreign Relations, an octoroon and a 
most talented gentleman. The day following 
their arrest, the French and British Ministers 
at Bogota came to my legation late in the night 
and informed me that news had been received 
that Gen. Mosquera had these men prisoners 
and had issued a decree condemning them to 
death the next day. 

They requested me to accompany them (the 



232 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Foreign Ministers at Bogota) to Gen. Mos- 
quera's headquarters. I willingly agreed to do 
so. We left early next morning for Gen. Mos- 
quera's headquarters, and were courteously re- 
ceived by the General, who with his Cabinet 
heard our appeals in behalf of his prisoners. 
Baron Gouri, Minister Plenipotentiary from 
the French Government, the oldest Minister, 
Mr. Griffith, the British charge d'affaires, I, the 
American Minister, and the Peruvian Minister 
each made an address to General Mosquera, and 
his Cabinet, as he was pleased to call it. He 
withdrew and his son Major Mosquera sent for 
me to see his father there in a private room, 
and he said: '' General, I have the greatest ad- 
miration for your Government and the highest 
esteem for you, and on your account only I will 
not execute these prisoners, but will send them 
as prisoners of war to Carthagena and keep 
them there until the war is over and I reform 
the Government. ' ' And he did so. 

On the 4th day of November, 1861, my suc- 
cessor in office. Judge Allan A. Burton of Ken- 
tucky, reached Bogota, when I extended every 
possible courtesy to him and tendered him my 
services as the bearer of his dispatches to our 
Government at Washington. He accepted my 
services but said he would not avail himself of 
them without first administering to me an oath 
called the iron-clad oath, to support the Con- 



MINISTER TO BOGOTA 233 

stitution and Government of the United States, 
which I freely took and subscribed my name to, 
and I bore his dispatches to Secretary Seward, 
delivering them at Washington, December 5, 
1861, on my route home. 

On my way home at Carthagena, the British 
Consul there informed me that President Os- 
pina, his brother, and Secretary Calva were in 
irons in the Fort. I went to the Fort to see them 
and found them with shackles on wrists and 
ankles. I told them I would send a dispatch to 
Gen. Mosquera to intercede with him in their 
behalf; that they might at least receive better 
treatment. My letter to Gen. Mosquera was im- 
mediately sent to him at Bogota and he sent an 
order to Carthagena to have the irons taken off 
of his prisoners and instructed that they should 
have better treatment. A short time thereafter 
those three distinguished men made their es- 
cape from prison, supposedly by bribing the 
guards, and I have never heard of them since. 

Gen. Mosquera, on receiving a dispatch from 
Secretary Seward announcing my recall as 
Minister, said it was the most extraordinary 
dispatch he had ever read, because of the kind 
expression toward me and the high compliments 
paid me by Secretary Seward, adding : ' ' This is 
the third time I have been President of the Re- 
public and I do not think I ever received so 



234 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

complimentary a dispatch concerning a Minis- 
ter before." 

I told him that Secretary Seward and I were 
warm friends in the United States, that he had 
served under me as member of the Committee 
on Pensions, of which I had been Chairman, and 
that I was well aware of his great personal 
regard for me. 



X 

My Meeting with Abraham Lincoln 

I CALLED at the State Department for the sec- 
ond time to see Secretary Seward, when his 
messenger told me Mr. Seward had just been 
sent for by the President and intended return- 
ing in a few moments, adding: ''He left word 
for you to walk into his rooms." I said: "No, 
I will go into Dr. Mackie 's room ' ' — which I did. 
A few seconds after I entered. Dr. Mackie, who 
was seated by the window, said: "Look here, 
General, here comes an army into the grounds 
of the State Department; let us go down and 
see what it means." We went, and found the 
Secretary's son Fred apologizing for the ab- 
sence of his father, who arrived at that moment 
from the White House. He addressed the Col- 
onel and his regiment as his old friends and 
neighbors of Cayuga County, N. Y. He finished 
by saying: "I will now take you to the Wliite 
House and introduce you to the President. ' ' He 
stepped to one side and allowed the Colonel to 
give his orders to the regiment. He saw me 
standing on the opposite side, and pulling off 
his hat, exclaimed, "There is my dear old 
friend ! ' ' and warmly shook my hand. He said : 

235 



236 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

'^ General, have you seen the President yet!" 
I replied: ''No, sir, I do not know him." 
"Come with me", he said, ''and I will intro- 
duce you to him at the same time as I do this 
regiment from my own County." He marched 
off with the splendid band of music, followed 
by the Colonel and his regiment. On reaching 
the North front of the President's house, a hol- 
low square was formed by the regiment, en- 
closing the President and his Cabinet. Mr. 
Seward made a beautiful address to the regi- 
ment, introducing them to the President of the 
United States. 

The President replied : ' ' Gentlemen, you may 
infer from the manner in which Mr. Seward has 
introduced me that I am going to make a speech, 
but this is not time for speech-making. I hope 
you will soon return from the South with a re- 
stored Union. Good bye, God bless you." 
Then he turned to leave them, when Mr. Seward 
took him by the arm and said : ' ' Mr. President, 
let me introduce you to my old friend Ex-Sena- 
tor Jones, just returning Minister from Bogota, 
South America." The President shook my 
hand very cordially and said : " I am very glad 
to meet you again. ' ' I replied : " I do not think, 
Mr. President, that I ever saw you before." 
"I recollect", he said, "forming a short but 
pleasant acquaintance with you about fifteen 
years ago at Springfield, Illinois." "I do not 



MEETING WITH LINCOLN 237 

recollect it, Mr. President." ''Well", he said, 
"do not come to see me to-niglit, as Mrs. Lin- 
coln is going to a wedding, but come tomorrow 
evening at eight o'clock and I will remind you 
of how we became acquainted. Please excuse 
Mr. Seward and me now, we have a matter of 
great importance in Cabinet meeting." Mr. 
Seward said: "General, call again at my office 
tomorrow morning at ten o 'clock. ' ' We parted, 
and as I walked away, I said to myself : " It is 
strange that a great man like the President 
knows me and I do not know him. ' ' 

I was never at Springfield but once in my life. 
Next morning I called again to see Secretary 
Seward at ten o'clock. He had not yet reached 
his office. I asked where his residence was, and 
was told at the Club House. I met him at its 
gate walking arm in arm with Ex-Senator 
Green of Missouri. We shook hands and he 
said : ' ' General, did you get my note this morn- 
ing!" "No, sir, I did not." "Are you not 
stopping at Willard's?" he asked. "I sent you 
a note there this morning." I replied: "I left 
the hotel early, to breakfast with my niece." 
"Well, General, it is proper that I should give 
you a diplomatic dinner ; I want you to come and 
dine at six o'clock next Monday." I thanked 
him and said that I would do so. He said: 
' ' Green, can 't you come also ? ' ' And the latter 
accepted. I said : ' ' Green, call for me Monday 



238 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

evening and I will ride up with you." On 
reaching Mr. Seward's I was introduced to a 
number of Diplomats and their ladies. I had 
the post of honor at the left of Secretary Sew- 
ard, taking his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Fred'k 
Seward, in to dinner. He informed the com- 
pany that he and I had been Senators and he a 
member of the Committee on Pensions of which 
I was Chairman. 

That night I went to the President's house. 
On entering his room, I saw him sitting in his 
arm chair. He introduced me to Messrs. Fran- 
cis P. Blair, Senior and Junior, and Montgom- 
ery Blair, his Post Master General. I said: ''I 
have seen these gentlemen to-day; they are old 
acquaintances of mine." He then introduced 
me to Mr. George B. Prentice, editor of the 
Louisville Courier-Enquirer [Courier- Journal]. 
I said: "Another old acquaintance, Mr. Presi- 
dent. ' ' Mr. Lincoln threw his right leg over the 
arm of his chair, and asked: ''You do not recol- 
lect me, General?" *'No, sir, I do not." 
"Why", he continued, "are you not the same 
George W. Jones who once petitioned the Leg- 
islature of Illinois to pass an act authorizing 
you to establish a ferry across the Mississippi 
from Dubuque, Iowa, to 'Jordan's stormy 
banks ' in Illinois f " "I am that man, sir ' ', said 
I. ' ' Why ' ', he said, ' ' General, you were brought 
to my house one night by our old friend, Judge 



MEETING WITH LINCOLN 239 

Pope, of the United States District Court for 
Illinois, the father of this 'lying Gen. John 
Pope' now of our army." "Yes, Mr. Presi- 
dent, I got that John Pope into West Point Mil- 
itary Academy in 1838, when I was Delegate in 
Congress from Wisconsin Territory." Mr. 
Lincoln said then: ''Judge Pope said to me, 
'Lincoln, I want you to pass George's bill grant- 
ing him a ferry privilege at Dubuque, I'll be 

d d if you don't pass his bill tomorrow 

morning, you shall never come to the Legisla- 
ture again." 

Mr. Lincoln continuing said: "General, you 
presented me with your bill, prepared by your- 
self, which I introduced next morning after con- 
siderable debate, which ensued upon my motion 
to suspend the rules of the House and take it 
up." "I recollect, Mr. President, that a very 
tall gentleman presented my bill, and after a 
very complimentary address about my father, 
John Rice Jones, as the oldest lawyer in Illinois, 
and myself as a Delegate in Congress, who had 
worked for Illinois, my bill was passed and sent 
to the Senate where it was managed by my old 
friend. Governor Reynolds, whom I suppose 
you recollect! He had the same difficulty there 
that you had in the House. ' ' 

' ' Oh, yes ' ', he replied, ' ' everybody knows the 
'old Ranger'. By the way. General, you had 
another friend then who was working for your 



240 GEOKGE WALLACE JONES 

bill tEat morning in the House — Judge Thomas 
of the Supreme Court, from our State." ''Yes, 
sir, Jesse and I were college mates at Transyl- 
vania University, Lexington, Kentucky." 
''Oh, General, were you educated at Lexing- 
ton?" "Yes, sir, I was graduated there in 
1825." "Why, sir, you must know something 
about my wife's family?" "What was her 
name, sir?" "Todd", he replied. "What! a 
merchant of Cheapside ? " " Yes ' ', he answered. 
"Well, sir", said I, "I knew your wife before 
you did." "Well", he said, "you must not 
leave this house without going to see my wife, 
and especially as you were both once Lexing- 
tonians. ' ' Turning to Prentice, he said : ' ' Pren- 
tice, the General speaking of Thomas and 
Eeynolds, reminds me of an anecdote." And 
we all laughed, of course. 

"On one occasion, as McDougall of Califor- 
nia, now Senator from that State, then a young 
lawyer of Springfield, some thirty years ago, 
came walking up to where Thomas and Rey- 
nolds stood talking, Thomas said to Reynolds, 
'Governor, let me introduce you to my friend, 
McDougall of Chicago, and a brother lawyer.' 
They talked a few moments and McDougall 
passed on. Reynolds asked, 'Thomas, is this 
the same McDougall that Captain Shakespeare 
spoke of in one of his works?' Thomas smil- 
ingly replied, 'I don't recollect that Captain 



MEETING WITH LINCOLN 241 

Shakespeare, as you call him, speaks of any 
McDougall at all.' 'Oh, yes. Judge, don't you 
recollect where the Captain in one of his works 

says: Come on, McDougall, and d d he him 

who first cries hold! enough!' " We all 
laughed most heartily. 

At that moment a servant entered saying: 
''Mr. President, a lady wishes to see you." A 
lady in black was shown in, and the President 
rose to greet her. We heard him say : ' ' Madam, 
that reminds me of an anecdote, but I will at- 
tend to your case", and the lady left the room. 
When the President returned to his chair I 
asked him: "How can I now get to see your 
wife?" He took up a pen and wrote on his 
card, called a messenger to him and said: 
"Take this card to Mrs. Lincoln." To me he 
said : ' ' Follow the messenger. General. ' ' I was 
met in the ladies' parlor at the door by Mrs. 
Lincoln, who was entertaining George Ban- 
croft, the historian, and Chevalier Hulsemann, 
but we conversed at length of Lexington and 
our many mutual friends. 

Some days afterwards I again called on Sec- 
retary Seward, who asked me if I had received 
my money. "Yes", I said, "all that they will 
pay me. I have come to take leave of you, I am 
about to leave for home." He asked: "What 
way do you go?" "I go to-night to the New 
York Hotel." He reached a bottle from under 

16 



242 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

his table and said: ''Let's take a farewell 
drink." Next morning I arrived at the New 
York Hotel with my niece, whom I was taking 
home with me. 

It was very cold in New York at that time, 
being December 20th. I arrived at the New 
York Hotel about 3 A. M. On registering our 
names at the office, I noticed a man who stood 
close beside me, and looked over my shoulder. 
After I had entered my name, he touched me on 
the shoulder and said: "General, I would like 
to speak a word with you. ' ' Drawing me aside 
he said in a low voice: ''General, I am sorry to 
say, but I have an order to arrest you. " " What 
for?" I asked. "I don't know." "By what 
authority", I asked. "By authority of Col. 
Kennedy, Chief Detective of New York City." 
I asked: "Will you allow me to place my niece 
in charge of some of my friends here — Senator 
and Mrs. Gwin?" He replied: "Certainly, go 
where you please. ' ' 

We were conducted by a servant to Senator 
Gwin 's parlor door. I left my niece in there and 
knocked at the Senator's bed-room door. He 
immediately called out: "Who is there?" I 
answered: "Gen. Jones." He said: "Can't 
you find your rooms 1 ' ' (He had engaged rooms 
for me). I said : "Get up. Senator, I have been 
placed under arrest, and I want to speak to you, 
and desire you and your wife to take charge of 



MEETING WITH LINCOLN 243 

my niece." The Senator then said: "Go into 
the parlor and I will be there in a moment." 
He dressed hastily and came into the parlor and 
asked in astonishment: "You are arrested!" 
My niece gave a cry of alarm on hearing such 
news. Mrs. Gwin entered hurriedly and threw 
her arms around my neck and exclaimed : ' ' Oh, 
dear General, you are going to Fort Lafayette, 
from which my poor husband has just been re- 
leased." I pulled out my purse, intending to 
leave it with my niece, but Dr. Gwin said: 
"Keep it, General, you will need it." I then 
asked Detective Farley when I went down and 
we drove to Col. Kennedy's office: "Where is 
Col. Kennedy I ' ' He answered : ' ' He will not be 
here until 9 or 10 in the morning." "Well", 
said I, " I am tired. Is there no place for me to 
lie down here?" "Oh, yes, General", said he, 
"follow me and I will give you a good bed." 
He conducted me to a room in the basement, 
and turning on a gaslight, I saw the windows 
with the iron gratings, and as he left me, he 
closed and locked a heavy wooden door and then 
an iron one. At about 9 he awoke me, saying: 
' ' Col. Kennedy will soon arrive. ' ' I remarked : 
"I wish I had my trunk here, I would like to put 
on a clean shirt. ' ' He assured me that both my 
trunks were then in the office, and added : ' ' You 
will probably like to have breakfast before Col. 
Kennedy arrives!" I said: "Yes". He con- 



244 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

ducted me to a fine restaurant and I enjoyed a 
good breakfast, after wliich we returned to CoL 
Kennedy's office, where we found the Colonel, 
and I was introduced. He said: '^ General, I 
am glad to see you!" ''"Why do I see you I" I 
asked. Offering me a chair beside him, he then 
placed before me a House's telegram which 
read: 

Washington, D. C. Dec. 19, 1861. 
The Hon. George W. Jones, late INIinister to Bogota, 
leaves here for New York Hotel. Arrest him and send 
him to Fort Lafayette. W. H. Seward. 

"That is all I know about it. General", said 
Col. Kennedy. I then asked: "Colonel, will you 
allow me to write a note to my wife!" "Cer- 
tainly, General, write as many letters as you 
please and go wherever you may wish to go ; all 
I want you to do is to get into Fort Lafayette 
before dark. ' ' We took a carriage and went to 
call on several of my old friends, Hon. Truman 
Smith, Ex-Senator, next, to the legation of Gen. 
Herran, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United 
States from Bogota. I gave Mrs. Herran a 
draft from the Sub-Treasury of the United 
States at New York for three or four thousand 
dollars. She begged me not to go to Fort La- 
fayette, but to stay in the legation where I 
would be free from arrest; but I left her and 
went to the legation of Secretary Parraga, and 
from there to Fort Hamilton, opposite and close 



MEETING WITH LINCOLN 245 

to Fort Lafayette, where I was introduced to 
Col. Burke, and where we had a pleasant con- 
versation until an officer appeared at the door 
saying: "Colonel, all is ready". Col. Burke 
said to me: "General, this officer will conduct 
you to Fort Lafayette." I stepped out of the 
door, and was immediately surrounded by ten 
soldiers with fixed bayonets, marched to a skiff 
and taken over to Fort Lafayette, where I was 
placed under an officer in charge. My watch 
and chain, my studs and other jewelry were 
taken from me, and I was conducted to a "case- 
mate ' ' and left to myself. Next morning Lieut. 
Wood, Commander of Fort Lafayette, trans- 
ferred me from the ' ' case-mate ' ', in which I had 
spent the night, to another and more comfort- 
able one. Early the next evening the Lieuten- 
ant came in with a soldier, who asked : "Is there 
a fellow here named Hon. G. W. Jones?" I 
answered : " I am he. ' ' He said in a gruff voice : 
' ' Here 's a note for you ' ' — which I opened and 
read. It was from Mrs. Geo. A. Gelston of Ft. 
Hamilton, a most benevolent lady whose sympa- 
thies were always with those in trouble. 

The note was accompanied by a bushel-basket 
of the daintiest provisions and a 2-gallon jug of 
best coffee from Mrs. George A. Gelston; and 
every night that I remained in the Fort I re- 
ceived something of this kind from her. 

I was discharged from Ft. Lafayette, Febru- 



246 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

ary 22, 1862, by order of Secretary Stanton of 
the War Department, by direction of President 
Lincoln. Secretary Stanton afterwards told me 
he never saw any reason for my arrest and im- 
prisonment. I went immediately to the resi- 
dence of Mrs. Gelston, a 5-story brown stone 
building. I was ushered into a splendid parlor, 
and in a few moments a tall lady and her daugh- 
ter entered. I approached, asking: "You are 
Mrs. Gelston, madam?" She answered: ''Yes, 
sir ' '. And I threw myself on my knees, saying : 
"Madam, allow me to kiss the hem of your gar- 
ment. ' ' I asked why she had been so kind to me 
and she replied: "Your friend. Miss Lucy 
Dodge, of New York City, being an old friend 
of mine, came down to see me and told me of the 
warm friendship existing between her father's 
family and yours. She begged me to pay you 
every attention. ' ' 

That summer I received a letter from an at- 
torney, E. E. Meade, asking if I was not going 
to bring suit for damages against Secretary 
Seward for my arrest and imprisonment, and 
said he would with pleasure act as my attorney 
without charge. I did bring suit, and he, at my 
suggestion, engaged to assist him, Hon. Charles 
O'Connor (the eminent counsel of Jefferson 
Davis) and Hon. John McKeon, Ex-United 
States District Attorney for the Eastern Dis- 
trict of New York. The death of Mr. Seward 



MEETING WITH LINCOLN 247 

interrupted my suit. His attorney had offered 
mine $5,000 to withdraw my suit, and he de- 
clined because I had sued for $50,000. Thus the 
case ended. 



Ill 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 



249 



PERSONAL EECOLLECTIONS 

SISTER HARRIET'S WEDDING 1814 

It was at this time, October 26, 1814, that my 
sister Harriet, aged sixteen years, was married 
to Mr. Thomas Brady of the firm of ^'McKnight 
& Brady", the leading dry-goods firm in St. 
Louis. The groom-elect, coming to claim his 
bride, rode on horseback, as did his servant, 
who followed with his master's large port- 
manteau, and leading a horse for the bride. 
Many friends came to the wedding-feast. 

The following day the guests, including bride 
and groom, repaired to Potosi, about two and a 
half miles distant, to attend the wedding of Mr. 
Thomas McKnight (brother of Mr. Brady's 
partner) to Miss Fanny Scott, sister of Hons. 
Andrew and John Scott ; and after that the two 
bridal parties departed, a gay cavalcade, to St. 
Louis, their future home. 



MY FIRST MINING EFFORT : AGED ELEVEN YEARS 

In the fall or winter of 1815 I was crying on 
the stile at New Diggings, Missouri, when old 
Uncle Jake asked me: "What's the matter, 
Master George?" "I don't know why Pa 

251 



252 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

moved out here, where there are no boys to play 
with me, or any fun. ' ' The good old negro said : 
"Come with me and I'll show you where you 
can get some mineral and buy yourself some 
marbles, tops, etc., to amuse you. ' ' He got me a 
"pick-a-wee" and a small wooden shovel, then 
took me out into an old deserted mineral hole 
and showed me how to get out of the drift little 
float mineral. 

That day or the next, I got out 300 or 400 lbs. 
of mineral and took my brother Myers out to 
show it to him. He gave me 25 or 50 cts., went 
into partnership with me, and we got upwards 
of $1,000 worth of mineral, bought ponies, etc., 
for ourselves, and were thus made very happy. 
I was then a little over eleven years of age. 

The next year I built a complete saw mill on a 
small scale, which I put into the tail race below 
my brothers John and Augustus' large mill, 
where it operated beautifully, and was visited 
by nearly all persons who visited Mine a Breton, 
(now Potosi), Missouri. I was a natural me- 
chanic or machinist, as well as a natural musi- 
cian and dancer. . . . 

That was my first venture in lead mining. I 
still own the Karrick Lode adjoining the City of 
Dubuque, into buying one-tliird of which I was 
actually forced by my old friend Capt. Geo. 0. 
Karrick in 1857. In the fall of 1835, when at 
Ste. Genevieve on my way to Congress as Dele- 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 253 

gate, I met Capt. Geo. 0. Karrick as he came 
driving an ox team hitched to a wagon loaded 
with lead, which he was bringing from the 
Mines. He was dressed in a buckskin suit and 
covered with dust. He was the son of a former 
rich Baltimore merchant and he himself had 
been educated at the West Point Military Acad- 
emy. I asked him : ' ' How much pay do you get 
for hauling lead and why do you pursue such a 
life?" He said he got eight dollars a load and 
that it was that or starve. I had known him for 
many years at Potosi, Missouri, and was 
grieved to see him so reduced. I suggested to 
him to give up that hard work and to come up to 
Wisconsin to live, saying: '^I am engaged in 
mining, smelting and farming, and am now on 
my way to Congress as Delegate elected from 
the Territory of Michigan, and can surely get 
you better business than this if you will come up 
to my country." He replied that he had not 
money enough to take himself and family to St. 
Louis. But he said : * 'Good bye, George, I must 
be off, as I have to go into the country where my 
oxen can get grass." And he showed me his 
buffalo robe on which he slept o ' nights, and we 
parted. The next time I met with my dear 
friend Capt. Karrick was at Jones' Hotel in 
Philadelphia, Pa., on the night of the 4th of 
July, 1836, when he and his brothers, Frank and 
Joseph, called to see me, the newspapers having 



254 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

announced my arrival there. We renewed the 
conversation we had had at Ste. Genevieve, and 
he expressed his regrets that he had not accept- 
ed my offer to move up to this country. I said : 
"It is not too late ; come up now. ' ' In the fall 
he arrived with all his family on a steamboat 
from St. Louis. I soon put the ferry (Jordan's) 
under his control, and he commenced keeping 
tavern there. In February I came with my wife 
and niece, Miss Julia St. Vrain, to his house, 
two and a half miles from East Dubuque. Mrs. 
Karrick and her children, Henrietta and two 
others, were delighted to see us. . . . Her 
husband was then on the road carrying the mail 
between Dubuque and Galena. 

When the boys returned from Dubuque they 
brought with them Gen. Henry A. Wiltse and 
Major James A. Eeid, then clerks in the Sur- 
veyor General's office at Dubuque, and Davis S. 
Wilson, who were appointed a committee to 
cross the river and invite my wife, niece, and 
myself to the Washington's Birthday ball (22nd 
of February). My wife in reply to an eloquent 
speech made by Gen. Wiltse said: "We thank 
you for the invitation, but as it is Lent, we can 
not go to a ball." I replied: "Lent or no Lent, 
I'll go and take my niece and Miss Henrietta to 
the ball." We went, and after I had danced 
once or twice with Mrs. Crane, the Doctor in- 
vited me to drink with him and ordered a $5.00 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 255 

bottle of champagne. He said: '^General, my 
father-in-law, Dr. Langworthy of Rochester, N. 
Y., who is a warm personal friend of Silas 
Wright, is going to have me made Surveyor 
General in the place of General Wilson." 
"Well, Doctor", said I, "let's drink to the 
health of the next Surveyor General!" — and 
we did so. I knew well that I was to be the man ; 
and on entering the office I made Capt. Karrick 
one of my clerks, by which he earned as copyist 
some $1500 to $1700 a year. 

On my return home in 1856, Capt. Karrick 
asked me to buy out George Samuels ' one-third 
in their "prospect". Upon my saying that I 
had no time to spare from my senatorial duties 
to engage in mining, he insisted, and asked me 
to take him out to see the ' ' prospect ' '. I drove 
him out in my carriage and told him, after see- 
ing Tom Walters and Mr. Otey in the shaft, 
that I would not give the $260, which Samuels 
asked for his share, for all the lead. Karrick 
persisted, and so I bought out Samuels' inter- 
est. That lode has turned out some eleven mil- 
lion pounds of ore and has now become my 
property. I believe we have taken out but a 
portion of the amount there, and that there are 
millions of pounds of ore further down. 

In 1846, at the instance of my dear old friends. 
Gen. James Shields, then Commissioner of the 
Land Office, afterwards my brother Senator 



256 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

in Congress, and Messrs. John and Joseph Wil- 
son, I appointed Thomas S. Nairn, of Washing- 
ton, D. C, nephew of the Wilsons, a clerk in my 
Surveyor General 's office. He proved to be one 
of the best clerks that ever entered an office. 
He married my dear friend's eldest daughter, 
Henrietta Karrick ; and their remains and those 
of Capt. Karrick are interred in Linwood Cem- 
etery. 

John and Joseph Wilson were old friends of 
mine dating from when I knew them in 1834 as 
clerks in and later as Commissioners of the 
General Land Office at Washington. 

I wrote the obituary notice of Capt. Karrick, 
between whose family and mine there has al- 
ways existed the most cordial friendship. 



GEN. WARNER LEWIS 

My acquaintance with — I may say my strong 
friendship for — Gen. Warner Lewis dates back 
to 1818, in St. Louis, Missouri. We served in 
the Black Hawk War together, and when he was 
State Senator in Iowa, in 1848, he used his in- 
fluence in favor of my election to the United 
States Senate. 

The week following my election I had him ap- 
pointed Surveyor General of Wisconsin, the of- 
fice being in this city. Like all members of the 
''F. F. V." he was the embodiment of liospi- 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 257 

tality and a gentleman of the old school. That 
he was not lacking in bravery or chivalry was 
manifest in his taking part in the war above 
alluded to, but his disposition was of the gen- 
tlest and most yielding nature, and he was a 
loyal and steadfast friend. 



EDWIN FORKEST 



In the year 182- Edwin Forrest was appearing 
in light plays at Lexington, greatly to the de- 
light of the students, when James W. Schaum- 
bourg, a fellow student of mine, and myself 
were appointed, by the students, a committee for 
the purpose of raising funds to enable Mr. For- 
rest to go to New Orleans where he was to make 
his first appearance in tragedy. . . . 

The friendship thus begun lasted throughout 
his lifetime, and I allowed no opportunity to 
pass without availing myself of it to witness his> 
triumphs on the stage. 



HENRY clay's SON THEODORE 

Theodore Clay was the eldest son of the great 
statesman, Henry Clay, my college guardian. 
He was graduated from the college proper and 
also the Law Department of Transylvania Uni- 
versity. During the winter of 1824-5 and the 
Christmas vacation, Theodore and I became en- 

17 



258 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

gaged in a game of billiards, lie having a Mr. 
Taylor as his partner, and I having Dr. Reid as 
mine. Theodore proposing that we should play 
for theatre tickets, I at first objected, but on his 
insisting agreed to it. After Reid and I had 
beaten several games, Theodore and I disagree- 
ing as to the number, he exclaimed: ''You had 
better dispute my words!" Whereupon I told 

him: ''You are a infernal liar." Then 

he rushed at me, but the bystanders interfered 
and we were not allowed to fight. Each of us 
persisted in our assertions. My partner asked 
me if I thought I could fight Clay, who was three 
or four years my senior. "Yes", I replied, "I 
can whip him, if you will only let me at him ! ' ' 
Whereupon Dr. Reid called out: "Stand off, 
gentlemen! let these young men have a fair 
fight ! ' ' Then Theodore rushed at me, exclaim- 
ing, ' ' Lay on, Macduff ; and damned be him who 
first cries 'hold, enough!' " I grabbed a lock of 
his hair and pounded him well, till he called: 
' ' Take him off, I 'm sick ! ' ' Then we were sep- 
arated. After which he was taken upstairs and 
put to bed. Shortly after, on the same day, 
Thomas Clay, Theodore's brother, a year or 
two older than I, came to me bearing a message 
from Theodore, saying that when he got well, I 
would hear from him. 

For several weeks after that I omitted my 
usual calls at the residence of Mr. Clay, when 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 259 

one day as I walked up Main Street I was 
stopped by Mrs. Clay, who was in the carriage 
with her husband, asking: "Mr. Jones, why 
have you not been to see us for so long a time?" 
I replied that in consequence of time lost during 
the Holidays I had been trying to catch up in my 
studies. Mrs. Clay replied: "That's a story! it 
is because you whipped Theodore, and you could 
not have done anything that pleased Mr. Clay 
and me more," Mr. Clay adding: "You must 
come back to our house; Theodore is a sassy 
fellow and it is a good thing you whipped him. ' ' 
I immediately afterwards resumed my visits 
to his hospitable mansion, visiting Mr. and Mrs. 
Clay, their sons, Henry, who, years later, was 
killed whilst fighting under Gen. Zachary Tay- 
lor and Gen. Jefferson Davis in the Mexican 
War, James B., who was afterwards appointed 
Minister to Portugal, and John, the youngest. 
Theodore meantime determining to go to New 
Orleans to practice law, came to me extending 
his hand, and we were reconciled. The next time 
after this that I saw Theodore was in 1850, 
when, upon Mr. Clay's invitation, I accompanied 
him home from Washington. Theodore was 
then an inmate of the insane asylum at Lex- 
ington, where he died. En route to Lexington 
we stopped over at Blue Lick Springs, to visit 
my sons, Charles and William, students at the 
Western Military Institute, where I had placed 



260 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

tliem upon the recommendation of Mr. Clay, It 
was on this occasion that I first met Mr. James 
G. Blaine, then Professor in the Institute. At 
the next session of Congress, 1850-1851, 1 again, 
of course, met Mr. Clay, we being brother 
United States Senators. He was often absent 
from the sessions on account of impaired health, 
during which time I almost daily visited him at 
his rooms in the National Hotel, where I saw 
him breathe his last. At the meeting of the 
Senate for his obsequies, I, among others, ad- 
dressed the members. ^^^ 



DRESS OF THE PERIOD 

I EEMEMBEE that whcu I was a student at Tran- 
sylvania University I was fastidious in the mat- 
ter of dress — ''full dress" consisting of 
Canton-crepe trousers, buff colored buck-skin 
boots, dark blue or black swallow-tail coat with 
brass buttons, which were sometimes flat and 
sometimes bullet shaped, white waist-coat, shirt 
ruffled at the bosom and sleeves, very stiff and 
high-standing collars, and the white or black 
silk broad stock. I used to beg my laundress, 
"Tiny", to starch my collars so stiff that they 
could draw the blood from my ears. No gentle- 
man at that time, and later, was in good form in 
the ball-room without swallow-tail coat and 
dancing pumps — anyone appearing otherwise 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 261 

would not have been allowed to enter. In con- 
trast to this, I may mention that about the year 
1858 I was surprised at some great ball in "Wash- 
ington to see my dear old friend Gen. Harney 
enter with frock coat on. On expressing my 
surprise, he replied : ' ' Why, this is all the style 
in Paris and London ' ' — whence he had just re- 
turned. 



MY father's dress 

It may be interesting to note here the style of 
dress worn by my father on his arrival in this 
country and afterwards, namely, short clothes 
or knee breeches with silver buckles at the knee, 
black silk hose and low shoes with large silver 
buckles. . . . 

His hair, which had never been cut during his 
life, was worn in a queue tucked up to his head 
with a small comb, and his face was always 
clean-shaven. His hat was a beaver. WTien on 
the circuit, as a lawyer or judge, he wore leg- 
gings to protect him from the cold in winter and 
from mud in other seasons of the year. 



FATHER MAZZUCHELLI 



About the year 1834 or 1835 and one day when 
I was in Galena, Mayor Nicholas Bowling 
(knowing that means of transportation were 



262 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

meagre) said to me : ''There is a Catholic priest 
here who wishes to go to Dubuque. Will you 
take him in your carriage?" I replied: "Cer- 
tainly, but on one condition, that is, that he will 
agree to say mass at my house, to-morrow morn- 
ing, for my wife and neighbors ' ' — I was not 
then a Catholic — whereupon he took me to the 
priest, who proved to be the Rev. Sam'l Maz- 
zuchelli, and whom I found to be a charming 
companion. 

He was a frequent and welcome guest at my 
house, where he officiated in his capacity as 
chaplain, having baptized all our children and 
stood as sponsor for one, and offered up the 
Holy Sacrifice of the mass. One night he came 
saying he wanted me to take him the following 
day to Dodgeville to perform the marriage ser- 
vice for Myers F. Truitt and Celina Dodge, 
sister of Augustus. Accordingly we went, re- 
turning home the following day. 

Father Mazzuchelli built the church in Du- 
buque which became the first Cathedral, just 
south of the spot on which the present Cathedral 
stands. 



PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON 

HoNs. Thomas H. Bentoit and Lewis F. Linn, 
Senators from Missouri, and Wm. Allen of 
Ohio, who were my "mess-mates", told me that 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 263 

during the discussion of the question of re- 
chartering the Bank of the United States and 
after President Jackson had withdrawn United 
States deposits from that bank and placed them 
in charge of Ms then Secretary of the Treasury, 
Hon. Roger B. Taney, later Chief Justice of the 
United States Supreme Court, a committee of 
some sixty gentlemen appointed by the city of 
Philadelphia went to Washington to induce the 
President not to veto that bill.^^^ The old gen- 
tleman being quite feeble, was lying on a couch 
in the Executive chamber when the committee 
appeared before him and made several speeches 
in behalf of their petition. One gentleman in 
his vehemence, to clinch their arguments, said: 
' ' Mr. President, instead of sixti/ gentlemen com- 
ing to see you in reference to this matter, an 
army of sixty thousand will come to demand the 
approval of the bill ! ' ' The old hero sprang up 
from the couch on which he was lying, and in 
stentorian tones, with clenched fist, exclaimed: 
' ' Tell them to come on ! Tell them to come on ! 
I '11 meet them at Bladensburg, and not run oif , 
as Madison did from the British army, allowing 
it to burn down our Capitol, in the War of 1812 ! 
I'll drive them back to Pennsylvania ! " He de- 
nied their petition and vetoed the bill to re- 
charter the Bank of the United States, the 
charter of which was substituted by the adoption 
of the Sub-Treasury Bill, which has since been 
the law of the land. 



264 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

HON. ROGER B. TANEY 

I AM happy to have numbered amongst my 
friends Hon. Roger B. Taney, who was Chief 
Justice of the United States Supreme Court 
when I went to Washington as Delegate from 
Michigan ; and the friendship existed during his 
life time — a fact I note with pardonable pride, 
for, besides being one of the ablest jurists and 
most distinguished men of America, he was a 
man of most unblemished character, a devout 
Roman Catholic, and a gentleman of the old 
school, respected and admired alike by people of 
all political faiths. 



BANQUET TENDERED ME BY MILWAUKEE 

In the latter part of August, 1837, I left Sin- 
sinawa Mound, my home, to attend the extra 
session of Congress called by President Van 
Buren in that month. In the carriage with me 
were my wife and infant son, we taking with us 
from Gratiot's Grove, however, Mrs. Henry 
Gratiot, widow of Colonel Henry Gratiot (father 
of the late Mrs. E. B. Washburne of Illinois) 
and sister-in-law of Honorable Charles Gratiot, 
chief engineer of the United States at Washing- 
ton. We drove through the southern tier of 
counties of Wisconsin, passing through Janes- 
ville and Racine, to Milwaukee. At the former 
two places public dinners were tendered to me 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 265 

by the citizens, which, because of my desire to 
make connection with the steamer "Madison" 
at Milwaukee, I declined. On reaching Mil- 
waukee I was again tendered a dinner by the 
Maj^or and Council of that city, which I also de- 
clined. In a short time the committee appointed 
to wait upon and tender me the compliment re- 
turned in carriages and invited myself and 
party to drive around the city and then take a 
"lighter" which would convey us to the steam- 
er. After a charming drive and upon reaching 
the lighter we found collected there a large 
number of citizens with a fine band of music, 
and a magnificent banquet was enjoyed until, 
along in the night, the "Madison" coming 
along, we were taken aboard and pursued our 
journey via Buffalo and New York City to 
Washington. 

Stopping at Baltimore we visited the grave of 
Colonel Gratiot (late Indian Agent, at Gratiot's 
Grove, of the Winnebago nation) he having 
died the March previous of pneumonia at Bar- 
num's Hotel en route west. His widow threw 
herself on his grave, giving vent to the most 
poignant grief. 

The extra session had been called for the dis- 
cussion of the Sub-Treasury scheme of Mr. 
Van Buren and adjourned about the last of 
September. 



266 GEOKGE WALLACE JONES 

GEN. JEFFERSON DAVIS ' FALL INTO THE TIBER 

In the winter of 1838 Gen. Jefferson Davis, my 
old friend and college-mate, called upon me at 
my boarding house at Dawson's, on Capitol 
Hill, and he was looking quite ill.^'^*^ I was over- 
joyed to see him. He was just then returning 
to his home in Mississippi from Cuba, where he 
had been for his health. As was the case with 
Gen. A. C. Dodge, the winter before, I asked 
him to become my guest. He consented to do 
this ; and so I sent my servant to Brown's Hotel 
for his luggage. I introduced him to Col. 
Benton, the President, and some forty odd other 
members of our mess. Dr. Linn, Wm. Allen of 
Ohio, Thurman, and other members of Con- 
gress and of the Cabinet of President Van 
Buren, all of whom he made his friends and 
admirers. 

On one occasion, as was always the case, 
Messrs. Linn, Allen, Davis, and myself went to 
a large part}^ together. At about twelve 
o'clock. Dr. Linn proposed to me to go home, 
and we sought Davis and Allen, whom we found 
in the banqueting room, eating and drinking 
together with Crittenden and others. Critten- 
den said: "Jones, you and Linn go home and 
Haws and I will take Allen and Davis home in 
our carriage." So we left. After the doctor 
and I had been in bed a short time (I often slept 
with Dr. Linn), we heard the stentorian voice 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 267 

of Allen as lie and Davis approaclied our house, 
walking. They soon entered our room, blood, 
mud and water trickling down the face of Davis, 
who was without a hat and looked very badly. 
Allen said: "We rode with Crittenden and 
Haws to their boarding house and concluded we 
would walk up the hill to digest our supper and 
wine. As we reached First Street, we walked 
a little too high up, missed the bridge and 
plunged into the Tiber. (It is now covered and 
is not seen by passengers.) Davis fell head- 
foremost upon the stones and was nearly 
killed." Allen continued talking, repeating to 
Dr. Linn and myself the speech which he said 
enabled him to beat his competitor. Gov. Mc- 
Artliur, of Ohio, by one vote for Congress. He 
was still full of wine, but Davis, who never 
drank to excess, sat mute. Dr. Linn and I dis- 
robed Davis, and the doctor dressed the ter- 
rible wounds on his head, I getting clean clothes 
in the meantime out of Davis' bureau. The 
next morning I went into Davis' room to wake 
him up for breakfast, when I found him speech- 
less and almost dead. I ran back for Dr. Linn, 
who snatched up his bottles of camphor and 
laudanum, and entering Davis' room, we put 
the bottle to his nose and rubbed him, soon re- 
storing him to consciousness and life again. 
Dr. Linn said he would have died in a few min- 
utes if I had not discovered him and applied 
the restoratives. 



268 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

When I was Surveyor General, I went, in the 
winter of 1846, to Washington and took board 
at Mrs. Best's boarding house on Pennsylvania 
Avenue, where my old friends the two Dodges 
and Jeff. Davis, the latter then a Representative 
in the House from Mississippi, were boarding, 
with Senator Sevier, Jake Thompson, and oth- 
ers. As I sat by Davis in the House of Repre- 
sentatives one day, he said: "Jones, Augustus 
Dodge tells me you are hard up for money." 
"Yes, there is a judgment for $400 against me 
that I can not pay." He took his pen, drew a 
draft for $1,000 on his commission merchant, 
Mr. J. U. Payne in New Orleans, and handed it 
to me. I was surprised, and asked: "How come 
you by so much money? The last time I saw 
you, you were yourself penniless." He re- 
plied: "I have been very successful on my 
cotton plantation. ' ' I drew my note to him for 
the amount at ten per cent interest and handed 
it to him. He tore it up into small pieces, threw 
them upon the floor, and remarked: "When you 
get more money, Jones, than you know what to 
do with, you may pay me the money without 
interest, and not before. ' ' 

This is the man who became the president of 
the Southern Confederacy and at whose funeral 
I was first pall bearer with Justice Charles C. 
Fenner of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, at 
whose house Davis died on the 6th day of De- 
cember, 1889. 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 269 

GENERAL EATON 

In November, 1848, as I walked down street, 

at the corner of and Fourth streets, I 

saw Gen. A. K. Eaton diagonally across, load- 
ing his wagon with general merchandise to take 
to Delhi, his place of residence. I shook hands 
with him, when he immediately said: "Don't 
stand here talking to me; I am all right — go 
on!" He evidently thought I intended to talk 
to him about my candidacy for the Senate ; but 
I had no such idea. I did not see him after this 
until I had been nominated and elected Iowa's 
first United States Senator, on December 7th 
of the same year. He was the last member of 
the legislature to reach Iowa City (the then 
Capital) before the caucus was held, though he 
had been eagerly looked for by my friends and 
those of other candidates, anxious to learn 
how he stood. I had told my friends to have no 
uneasiness, as I was certain he was my friend 
and would vote for me, although I had never 
had any conversation with him upon the subject. 
He voted for me in caucus, and the following 
day I was nominated and elected. Ever since 
then we have been staunch friends and regular 
correspondents. 

I had the pleasure when Surveyor General of 
appointing him one of my deputies, and during 
the administration of President Pierce had him 
appointed Eeceiver of Public Moneys at the 



270 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

Land Office at Decorali, from which place it was 
subsequently removed to Osage, where he has 
since resided. His associate in the office was 
Col. J. Doran Jenkins, with whom I served in 
the Black Hawk War. Gen. Eaton has of late 
years been engaged in writing various con- 
tributions to history, in the newspapers of his 
town, of great interest and value. He is a man 
of fine intellect, extraordinary memory, and un- 
swerving loyalty to his friends and country. 
Upon the invitation of his son, Wm. L., a tal- 
ented lawyer and attorney for the I. C. R. R. at 
Osage, who was Chairman of the Invitation 
Committee, I attended on May 22, 1895, the Ee- 
union of the Early Settlers of that section at 
Osage. At that meeting Gen. Eaton as pre- 
siding officer made an address in which he re- 
ferred to me as Delegate, Surveyor General, 
Senator, and United States Minister to Bogota, 
rehearsing many incidents of the past. My visit 
with him and his son and family was of the 
most delightful nature, the recollection of which 
will serve to strengthen, if that were possible, 
the bonds of friendship that have so long ex- 
isted between us. 



EEMINISCENCES OF COLONEL BENTON 

When the Hon. Thomas H. Benton, ''Old Bul- 
lion", became a candidate for the House of 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 271 

Eepresentatives in Congress against Hon. 
Lewis V. Bogy, in Missouri, I met with him on 
a steamer on his way to Cape Girardeau, where 
he was advertised to address the people. Al- 
luding to the fierce denunciation of him by his 
opponents, he asked me what they said about 
him. I replied: "They say very hard things 
that I do not wish to repeat. " " Tell me, what 
do they say?" "They say you are so vain and 

egotistical." He promptly replied: "G — d 

them, I've got something to be vain and ego- 
tistical of. I know more than all of them put 
together. ' ' I recollect that he came to the door 
of the House on one occasion (I was then a 
Delegate,) and hallooed, in stentorian tones, to 
them that they should adjourn sine die, as it 
was Sunday, and, therefore, their sitting and 
acts were illegal. Hon. John Quincy Adams 
was then a member of the House, and in reply 
to Col. Benton's remark, said: "The Constitu- 
tion of the United States does not recognize any 
Sunday, and the House has a perfect right to 
continue their session until twelve o'clock, 
albeit it is Sunday, the last day of the Session." 
And so they remained in session until 12 M. 
when they adjourned sine die. 

During the great compromise session of 1850, 
Henry S. Foote of Mississippi, one of the most 
eloquent men in Congress, was in the habit of 



272 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

making very sarcastic speeches, and when he 
first came to the Senate he asked in one of our 
Democratic caucuses: '^Why don't some of you 
Democrats give Seward a raking down?" 
"Well", someone replied, "you'll have an op- 
portunity to do so soon." 

Governor Foote soon afterwards made one of 
the most sarcastic, able, and denunciatory 
speeches that was ever heard, and almost in 
violation of the rules of the Senate. Seward 
sat across the room looking at him all the time. 
As soon as Foote had finished his speech he sat 
down with his back to Seward, who arose im- 
mediately, walked over to Foote, grasped his 
hand and shook it cordially, and congratulated 
him heartily on his eloquent and beautiful 
speech. The whole Senate laughed and Foote 
turned red as fire. Foote took it for granted 
that Seward had come to knock him down. 

Not long after that, he made a like attack 
upon Col. Benton, the ''Thirty Years Senator 
from Missouri." He even endeavored to make 
his anathemas stronger. Foote stood on the 
back tier, near the railing, in the old Senate 
Chamber, now the Supreme Court room. Col. 
Benton sat with his profile toward Foote at the 
far east end of the semi-circle. When Foote 
alluded to Col. Benton's having ''stolen the 
bank notes that were found folded up in his silk 
cravat ",^^^ Senator Benton quickly rose up, and 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 273 

in doing so knocked over one or two of the large 
chairs, making quite a crash, and marched to- 
ward Foote, who retreated rapidly through the 
aisles on the Democratic side. As he went he 
drew from his bosom a pistol, which I saw taken 
from him by Senator Daniel S. Dickinson of 
New York. Wlien Senator Benton was told that 
Foote had drawn a pistol, he immediately re- 
turned to his seat, and baring his breast, ex- 
claimed: *'Fire, you coward! fire, you 

!" That was the most exciting scene I 

ever witnessed in the Senate.^ *^^ Soon after that 
Foote had a street fight with Col. Benton's son- 
in-law, Fremont, who came to me to be his 
second ; but Foote did not challenge him. 



MAJOR JOHN p. SHELDON" 

Majok Johk p. Sheldon was a gentleman for 
whom I always had the highest regard. He was 
of the old school, courtly in appearance and 
manner and a brave officer with Gen. Cass in the 
War of 1812, at the close of which he founded 
and edited the Detroit Free Press. His nephew, 
Sheldon McKnight, succeeded him as Delegate 
from Michigan in 1835, over Woodbridge and 
Doty, United States Judges, and Morgan L. 
Martin, all previously referred to.^^^ 

Major Sheldon left Detroit in 1835, when ap- 
pointed Deputy United States Lead Mine Agent 

18 



274 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

at Peru, north of Dubuque. He was subse- 
quently Eegister of the Land Office at Mineral 
Point, and editor of the Free Press in that town. 
When I became Chairman of the Committee 
on Pensions in the United States Senate, I made 
him Clerk of that Committee. When he re- 
ceived the telegram announcing it, he handed it 
to his wife, a most intelligent woman, who ex- 
claimed: ''Why, that is not Gen. Jones' writ- 
ing!" Whereupon he laughed heartily. This 
was in the early days of telegraphy. 



JENNY LIND 

On my arrival at the Jones Hotel in Phila- 
delphia in the last week of November, 1850, on 
my way to Congress, I met Hon. Howell Cobb of 
Georgia, then Speaker of the House, afterwards 
Secretary of the Treasury under President 
Buchanan in 1857. After an exchange of greet- 
ings, he said: "I have two tickets for the con- 
cert and want you to go with me to hear the 
famous Jenny Lind sing." I complied, and 
after the great songstress had given several 
numbers, Cobb exclaimed: ''Let us go home. I 
have a dozen negro women on my plantation 
who can excel her." Thereupon we left. The 
following week I heard the Diva again at the old 
National Theatre, Washington City. I was 
seated in the first tier in the parquet when Mr. 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 275 

Webster entered and sat beside me. He came 
from a dinner party at the Russian Minister's, 
and being quite exhilarated, gave vociferous 
demonstrations of his delight at hearing the 
Swedish nightingale. He then asked her to sing 
the "Star Spangled Banner", he joining in the 
chorus; and afterwards he gave vent to his en- 
thusiasm in most extravagant language, con- 
cluding by presenting her with a handsome 
bouquet. 



MISS ' ' LOU ' ' BULLITT 

In the winter of 1837 Miss ''Lou" Bullitt, sister 
of Mrs. Gen. Atkinson, whose husband was 
Commander of the forces in the armies of the 
Black Hawk War, was considered the belle of 
Washington. Her chief admirers were Mr. Van 
Buren, Vice President of the United States, 
James Buchanan, Wm. R. King, afterwards 
Vice President with Pierce as President, and 
Lucius Lyon, Senator from Michigan. She was 
the sister of my college-mate Alex. Bullitt, at 
Transylvania University, she being at the same 
time a pupil of Mr. Dunham's Female Semi- 
nary, in Lexington. We were very devoted 
friends, and Buchanan and Lyon knowing this 
frequently called upon me to accompany them 
on the occasion of their visits to her; so that I 
was wont to say to her: "Lou, you must make 



276 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

those fellows vote for my bills." Which she 
did in a most thoroughly artful manner. 

She married later a Count, and after her de- 
parture for Europe I lost sight of her. Her 
sister, Gen. Atkinson's widow, married Adam 
Duncan Stewart of Detroit fame. 



HENRY CLAY DEAN 

About the year 1851 or 1852 when Rev. Henry 
Clay Dean, a Methodist minister of this State, 
noted for his extraordinary mental gifts and 
eloquence, was here in attendance upon confer- 
ence, he was my guest at "Alta Vista", my 
residence at that time. We had been invited to 
dine, in company with the Presiding Bishop and 
other dignitaries of that church, at the house of 
our mutual and dear friend Gen. Warner Lewis. 
A bountiful spread, and likewise ''the feast of 
reason", had detained us so long at the table 
that before we were aware of it, the hour had 
arrived for a service at the church, at which the 
Rev. Dean was to deliver a sermon. As soon as 
he left the room I remarked to the assembled 
guests that I would have Mr. Dean made Chap- 
lain of the United States Senate, at its next 
session. Accordingly, after reaching Washing- 
ton when we went into caucus to nominate the 
officers of the Senate, I proposed the name of 
Rev. Henry Clay Dean of Iowa, for Chaplain, 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 277 

and soon afterwards telegraphed him that he 
was elected.^^^ 

Upon his arrival in Washington I took him to 
the National Hotel and introduced him to my 
noble friend, Hon. Henry Clay, the senior Sen- 
ator from Kentucky, as ''his name sake", when 
Mr. Clay observed: "The question is, whether 
you were named for me or I for you. ' ' Several 
Sundays after Mr. Dean's election as Chaplain 
it was announced that he would deliver a ser- 
mon at the ''Foundry M. E. Church", in Wash- 
ington, and nearly all the leading Senators at- 
tended to hear him. At the conclusion of his 
sermon, when he descended from the pulpit, he 
was surrounded by such men as Clay, Webster, 
Benton, Calhoun, Grundy, Dickinson of New 
York, Smith of Connecticut, etc., all of whom 
complimented him because of his able sermon.^*^^ 

Mr. Dean and I remained devoted friends as 
long as he lived, his friendship having been em- 
phasized by naming a son for me. 

Still another friend who conferred a similar 
compliment upon me was Capt. Isaac W. Grif- 
fith, who, with his revered wife, has been a 
resident of this State since somewhere in the 
forties. After serving in the Mexican War, 
losing his right arm in the battle of Cherubusco, 
he became a citizen of Lee County, and was 
elected to the State legislature, where he con- 
tributed his potential influence to my election as 
United States Senator. 



278 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

About the year 1850 or 1851 I had him ap- 
pointed an officer of the Senate, and one even- 
ing at the President 's levee I introduced him to 
Gen. Winfield Scott, who, recognizing in Capt. 
Griffith a brave and meritorious officer, greeted 
him most cordially as his brother soldier. 

Several years ago I attended his golden wed- 
ding in Des Moines, where he has resided for 
many years past ; and when I last saw him there 
in April, 1890, he was the picture of a hearty, 
happy and noble looking man. 



A TRIP TO HAVANA 

Upon the adjournment of Congress March 4th, 
1850 [1851], I induced Mr. Clay, who, with sev- 
eral other Senators and Eepresentatives had 
been invited, to accept the hospitality of the 
commander of the "Georgia" (then one of the 
finest warships of the United States) David B. 
Porter, who died a few years since at Washing- 
ton City after having attained the rank of Eear 
Admiral, for gallant and efficient service in the 
War of the Rebellion. We sailed from New 
York City on March 5tli, and upon our arrival 
at Havana were most cordially received and 
entertained by the Captain General of Cuba. 
Our stay was for about a couple of days, and 
was rendered charming by the drives we took 
through the city, not only in the daytime but at 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 279 

night, when, fortune favoring ns, the moon was 
at its full, and lent an additional charm to the 
natural beauties of that now unhappy land. 
Not only was our sense of sight delighted, but 
we were regaled by the delicious fragrance of 
the flowering shrubs and plants which every- 
where bloomed luxuriantly. Moro Castle was 
visited, and as we sailed out of the harbor, we 
received a parting salute from that fortress. 

On reaching New Orleans Commander Port- 
er gave us a delightful ball and supper, to which 
his friends and ours in that city were bidden, 
and the following day we took leave of our hos- 
pitable host, the "Georgia" returning to New 
York and our party separating in New Orleans 
and repairing to our respective homes, in the 
South and West. In my care, were Mrs. Ashley 
(widow of Gen. Ashley of Missouri) who after- 
wards became the wife of Hon. J. J. Crittenden 
of Kentucky, colleague of Hon. Henry Clay; 
Mrs. Cox, widow of the late cashier of the 
United States Bank at St. Louis, and Mrs. Scott, 
my niece, who afterwards married Hon. A. G. 
Penn, M. C. from Louisiana. Mrs. Penn's 
little daughter, who accompanied her, is now 
the wife of Capt. Geo. B. Haycock, retired. 
United States Marine Corps, and residing in 
Washington City. Another of the Georgia's 
party was the charming Miss Reid, daughter of 
Sam. C. Reid, Commander of the "Armstrong" 



280 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

which sank several British vessels in the War 
of 1812 off Fayal, Azore Islands. She married 
Hon. John Savage, a noted Fenian, and a ver- 
satile writer, the author of a biography of 
President Lincoln. Congress passed an act for 
the benefit of Commander Reid's heirs because 
of his valiant services. 



JUDGE LOVE 

In the summer of 1853 [1855],^*^*^ upon the death 
of Hon. J. J. Dyer, United States District Judge 
for the State of Iowa, a man of the highest in- 
tegrity and unquestioned ability, esteemed by 
all who knew him, I recommended to my good 
friend President Pierce as Judge Dyer's suc- 
cessor, Hon. James M. Love of Keokuk. The 
return mail brought me the gratifying intelli- 
gence of the desired appointment. The pro- 
found wisdom displayed in all his decisions 
placed Judge Love high in the estimation of his 
fellow citizens and the government; and his 
death, a few years since, caused the sincerest 
grief. He, too, did me the honor to name a son 
for me. 



DUBUQUE ICE HARBOR 

In the summer of 1853, Col. Long, Engineer 
Corps, U. S. A., came here to inspect the harbor, 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 281 

for wliicli I had got an appropriation from Con- 
gress. Capt. Joshua Barney, a retired officer 
of the army, was in charge of the work. My 
brother-in-law, Charles Gregoire, tried to in- 
duce Col. Long to change the plan of harbor 
which had been determined on so as to make 
what is now the ice harbor. Col. Long replied 
that he would not dare to change the plan with- 
out the order of the Secretary of War, Jefferson 
Davis, but added: ''Gen. Jones and Mr. Davis 
are great friends and he can get Mr. Davis' 
consent to the change." My brother-in-law, 
Mr. Gregoire, being President of the Lower 
Harbor Improvement Company, then brought 
me all the maps and plans representing the then 
contemplated improvement, which I took to 
"Washington the following session. When I 
broached the subject to Secretary Davis he at 
once agreed to my suggestions and had the plans 
so changed as to make what is now known as 
"the ice harbor". 



GENERAL A. C. DODGE 'S DEMOCRACY 

On one occasion in the Senate during the Com- 
promise debate Gen. Dodge, my colleague, then 
sitting by his father. Gov. Henry Dodge, Sena- 
tor from Wisconsin, said, as illustrating his 
democratic principles, that when a young man 
he blacked the boots of his father's guests and 



282 GEOEGE WALLACE JONES 

fed and curried their horses. As he was con- 
cluding his speech, Hon. Jesse D. Bright, 
Senator from Indiana and President pro tern of 
the Senate, came to me and asked: ''Why did 
you let your colleague make such a speech as 
that?" "Because", I replied, ''he is an in- 
grain Democrat. As early as 1827 I knew him 
and his elder brother with his father's negroes 
to have cordelled the keel boat from southeast 
Missouri, below St. Louis, up the Mississippi to 
Galena in the Lead Mines, and I overtook him 
once early in the morning, between Dodgeville, 
Wisconsin, and Galena, driving two ox-teams of 
five yoke each, to wagons loaded with lead. I 
was on horseback, and sometime before I came 
up to him heard him cracking his whip and hal- 
looing to his oxen. Wlien I remonstrated with 
him for not making Joseph, his negro-slave, 
drive one of the teams, he replied: 'Joseph is 
broken down driving through the deep snow.' 
On the top of the wagon was their bedding, 
blanket, and buffalo robes. An hour or so after 
reaching Galena I went down to the store of 
John Atchison, commission merchant, and there 
I found Augustus Dodge cooking his breakfast. 
So you see he comes honestly by his democratic 
principles. ' ' 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 283 

GENERAL HAENEY, L. V. BOGY, AND STILSON 

HUTCHINS 

In the spring of 1864 1 went to St. Louis, having 
under my care Miss Sarah Wells, the grand- 
daughter of my friend Mrs. Francis S. Wilson, 
who was about to visit her aunts, Mrs, Anil and 
Mrs. Luke of that city. At East St. Louis we 
were met by young Mr. Anil, who took us in his 
carriage to the city, leaving me at the residence 
of my friend Col. L. V. Bogy. On Miss Wells' 
arrival at Mr. Anil's residence she there met 
Gen. Harney, to whom she mentioned my ar- 
rival at Col. Bogy's. Gen. Harney, who had 
been an old friend of mine — that is, since 1825 
or 1826 — returned at once to his residence, 
across the street from Mr. Anil's in Lucas 
Place, ordered his carriage and baggage wagon 
out and drove to Col. Bogy's, where he said to 
Mrs. Bogy that Gen. Jones had sent for his bag- 
gage, I meantime having gone down to Col. 
Bogy's office. 

On returning with the Colonel to dinner, Mrs. 
Bogy told me of Gen. Harney having called for 
my baggage, which, of course, surprised me, as 
I had not yet seen him. After dinner I set out 
for Gen. Harney's house, on entering which he 
gave me a cordial welcome, and asked: "Why 
do you come without j^our baggage?" "You 
rascal!" I exclaimed, "Mrs. Bogy has told me 



284 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

of your seizure of it. ' ' Showing me to my room, 
he said: "This is the room occupied by our 
friend, Gen. Grant, when last he was my guest." 
I had a delightful visit here of a week or so. 

One morning when making my toilet, I 
dropped a cuff -button on the floor, and I called 
to Harney to come in and help me to find it with 
his young eyes. As we were unable to find the 
button he went to his room, and on returning 
brought me a pair of buttons, valued at eighty 
dollars, which Colt (of revolver fame) had given 
him, he thought as a bribe, to induce him to buy 
revolvers from him for his command, the 2nd 
Eegiment, U. S. Dragoons, and so he would not 
wear them. During this visit I frequently met 
my friend, Stilson Hutchins, then editor of the 
St. Louis Tunes. He had been my tenant when 
he was associated with the firm here of Ham & 
Carver, proprietors of the Dubuque Herald. 

When Hutchins made up his mind to remove 
from here to St. Louis, in 18 — , he came to me 
for letters of introduction to my St. Louis 
friends. I replied that it was not worth while 
as he would not stay long in St. Louis, thinking, 
as I then did, that he was fond of moving about. 
Finally I said : " I will give you a letter to one 
of the most talented and influential lawyers 
there, who will do anything for you that you 
want. ' ' After he had concluded his call I wrote 
to that lawyer. Col. Lewis V. Bogy, telling him 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 285 

tliat he would shortly receive from me another 
letter introducing Stilson Hutchins, one of the 
most talented editors in the United States, and 
as fine a stump speaker as there was in the 
State of Iowa, adding: ''Do whatever he may- 
ask and he will make you U. S. Senator, what 
I know you want to be. ' ' Hutchins carried the 
note of introduction, and on presenting it. Col. 
Bogy assured him of his pleasure in becoming 
acquainted with him. They became warm 
friends, and through the influence of Hutchins, 
who became a member of the Legislature for 
that purpose. Col. Bogy was elected United 
States Senator. In the course of a year or more 
thereafter Mr. Hutchins removed to Washing- 
ton, founded the Post, which became the leading 
political paper, and became rich. Eventually he 
sold the Post, and at this writing is about to 
engage in another newspaper enterprise. His 
great ability as a writer and his well-known 
business capacity ensure the success of this 
undertaking. 

Col. Bogy's younger brother, Charles, mar- 
ried the amiable daughter of my old friend 
Thomas McKnight, whose first wife was the 
sister of my two brothers-in-law — Hons. John 
and Andrew Scott of Missouri and Arkansas, 
respectively. His widow now resides in Bon- 
ham, Texas, beloved by all who have ever had 
the happiness of knowing her. 



286 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

JAMES G. BLAINE 

The next time I met tlie Hon. Jas. G. Blaine 
after my introduction to him in 1850, when he 
was a Professor in the Western Military Insti- 
tute of Kentucky, was on February 21, 1875, 
when I was sent as a special delegate by the 
City Council of Dubuque to Congress, at the 
suggestion of our then Eepresentative in Con- 
gress, Hon. W. G. Donnan. On entering the 
House that day, Mr. Donnan gave me a seat by 
his side, some thirty feet to the left of the 
Speaker's chair. After a conversation of up- 
wards of an hour with Mr. Donnan, as I walked 
across the hall in front of the Speaker's chair, 
to confer with Hon. Alex. H. Stephens and other 
old friends, with whom I had served in Con- 
gress, I was met by a splendid gentleman who 
greeted me as ' ' Senator Jones ' ', shaking hands 
cordially with me and expressing his pleasure 
at meeting me. I replied that he had the ad- 
vantage of me, as I did not recollect him, and 
simultaneously many members of the House 
flocked around the Speaker, who introduced me 
to them as "a remarkable old gentleman", ask- 
ing if I did not remember him, and on my reply- 
ing that I had no recollection of having met him 
before, he replied: '^I am Speaker Blaine." 
"Well, Mr. Speaker, this is the first time I have 
ever had the pleasure of seeing you ! " ' ' Do you 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 287 

not recall", he inquired, ''my having been intro- 
duced to you in 1850 by Mr. Clay at Blue Lick 
Springs, Kentucky? I educated your sons 
Charles and William". ''Well", I replied, 

"you played the D educating them, for you 

made two of them Secessionists." He quickly 
replied : " I did not intend that. ' ' 

After some further conversation we separ- 
ated, and I went among the members, lobbying 
for my bill, which I did daily until the bill was 
passed and sent to the Senate, whither I fol- 
lowed it to confer with our Senators Hon. Wm. 
B. Allison and Hon. Geo. G. Wright. When the 
bill was called up afterwards on that day, 
March 3rd, by the latter, an amendment to it 
was proposed by the Senator from Green Bay, 
Wisconsin, Mr. Howe, and being informed by 
Senator Wright of the proposed amendment, I 
requested him to introduce me to the Senator 
from Wisconsin, to whom I said that his amend- 
ment would certainly defeat my bill, as there 
was not time left in which to send it to the House 
for its concurrence. My entreaties were un- 
availing, I immediately hastened to the House, 
told Hon. J. Allen Barber, Representative from 
Grant County, Wisconsin, of the amendment 
proposed by his colleague in the Senate, and 
urged him to get Senator Howe to withdraw his 
amendment. Senator Howe finally withdrew 
his amendment, when the bill was passed and 



288 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

sent to the President, General Grant, who was 
then with his Cabinet at the Capitol. 

On repairing to the room where the President 
and Cabinet were assembled, I met my nephew, 
Gen. Babcock, Private Secretary, and asked him 
to see that my bill was approved by the Presi- 
dent. He shortly returned, saying the bill had 
not yet reached the President, whereupon I 
rushed back to the House and acquainted 
Messrs. Barber and Donnan with that fact, when 
they had the bill sent at once to the President. 
I returned to the President's room and on meet- 
ing Gen. Belknap at the door I requested him to 
see if the President had signed the bill. ' ' No ' ', 
he replied, drawing me into the room with him. 
Selecting the bill from a large number of others, 
he gave it to President Grant, who thereupon 
attached his signature, when the bill was sent 
to the proper House. 

At that session of Congress I was the guest of 
Gen. Babcock, the husband of my grand-niece. 
Gen. Belknap was an old friend whom I, when a 
Senator, had induced to settle in Iowa. Ever 
since which time, up to his death, we were warm 
personal friends. 



MRS. JEFFERSON DAVIS ' LOST ALBUM 

I WOULD herewith give the letter of my dear old 
friend, Jefferson Davis, requesting me to try to 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 289 

get the album of his wife, which a friend of his 
at or near Erie, Pennsylvania, had written him 
was then in the possession of a man named 
Moore of Independence, Iowa, were it not that 
I some time ago sent it to Mrs. Davis to use in 
her forthcoming biography of her deceased 
husband. As soon as I got Mr. Davis' letter I 
wrote to my friend Jamison, attorney-at-law, at 
Independence. A reply brought me the infor- 
mation that Moore had removed to Waterloo; 
so I took the next train for that city, and when T 
reached there I had my cousin, Thomas Place, 
Master Mechanic of the Illinois Central R. R., 
take me to the post office. The post master in- 
formed me that Moore had removed from Wa- 
terloo to Moore's Mill, in Tama County, some 
twenty-five or thirty miles west ; so I asked my 
cousin to introduce me to some good attorney, 
and he took me to the office of Boies, Allen & 
Couch, to whom I made known the object of my 
call. Allen, the president of a bank, was not in, 
but Mr. Boies, whom I had never seen before, 
introduced me to his young partner, Mr. Couch, 
who agreed that he would go with me the next 
morning to Tama County. After early break- 
fast with cousin Tom and family, my buggy, 
with two good horses, was at the door and I got 
in and drove off. Just as I was leaving Mr. 
Place's, he handed me a good six shooter, say- 
ing : ' ' Put It into your pocket. ' ' I declined do- 

19 



290 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

ing so, when he insisted, saying: ''You are go- 
ing on a dangerous expedition. ' ' Whereupon I 
took it, placing it in my outside pocket. 

It had rained very hard all the night before 
and I had difficulty in keeping my horses up, as 
they had on old shoes, so I would drive them out 
upon the grass. When we got into Tama, we 
found out that there was no Justice of the Peace 
at Moore's Mill, so we stopped at a Justice's, a 
couple of miles off, where my attorney, Couch, 
drew up a writ of replevin and got the Justice 
to appoint his young son as constable pro tem. 
When within a mile or so of the Mill, Mr. Couch 
advised me to go alone to Moore's house, with 
my temporary Constable, who knew the 
Moore's. 

On our entering the house there sat a burly, 
stout old man on one side of the dining table 
with a younger man, his wife and children 
on the other side. Addressing the older man I 
said: "Mr. Moore, I understand, as I am pass- 
ing through your County, that you have the 
album of Mrs. Jefferson Davis, wife of the great 
Southern rebel President, who would have de- 
stroyed the liberty of his Country." "No, it is 
my son over there", (turning to him), "who has 
it. " " Well, Mr. Moore, I would like to buy that 
album if you will sell it, as I understand you de- 
sire to do." "Well", his son said, "there is 
such an album in this neighborhood, which I 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 291 

think you can get for forty dollars." I replied, 
* 'I will give forty dollars for it, if it is the album 
that I want and is in good condition." He got 
up from the table and went into an adjoining 
room, and as he entered it, I saw him beckon to 
his wife through the crack of the door to follow 
him, which she did. I remarked to the old fel- 
low: ''I cannot believe that the album of Mrs. 
Davis is away out here." *'Yes, it is. I was 
present when my son took it out of Mrs. Davis ' 
trunk at Fortress Monroe. She and her hus- 
band were there prisoners and he was incarcer- 
ated there. She, with her children, went on to 
New York in the Steamer. I knew Mrs. Davis ' 
family, the Howells, well in New Jersey", the 
old man said. 

The son and wife reentered the room, when 
with his two hands under his coat tail he said, 
''You'll pay me forty dollars for the album?" 
''Yes, if it is the album, which I know well, and 
it is in good condition as when I saw it." He 
brought it out and handed it to me. I took it, 
looked through it and said: "It is very much 
soiled and I find that the pictures of General 
Lee, Stonewall Jackson, some of Mrs. Davis' 
children, and my own, are not in this album." 
"You see", he said, "our neighbors have looked 
over the album and soiled it, and I have sold, or 
given away, some of the likenesses." "It is not 
in the condition that it was when I first saw it", 



292 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

I replied. I handed it to the young constable 
and said: ''Constable, serve your writ of re- 
plevin. ' ' The constable read the writ and said : 
' ' I replevin this album. ' ' The old man said : ' * I 
thought you were some old secesh ' ' — looking 
daggers at me. Mrs. Moore, with fury in her 
eye, said: ''You are no gentleman, sir, to act 
so." I asked: "How would you like to have 
your album stolen out of your trunk, and the 
likenesses of your little children and friends 
taken out ? " " Let 's go, Mr. Constable ' ', I then 
said ; and we left the house. 

I got into the buggy and we drove off, and to 
Mr. Couch. As we approached him, he sang 
out: "What success. General?" I held out the 
album and replied: "Here it is, and I would not 
take $1,000 for it." 

He asked the constable if he had given Mr. 
Moore a copy of the writ, and when he said 
"No," Mr. Couch said: "He must have a 
copy." "Well, I will go back", I replied. 
"No", continued Mr. Couch, "I will go back 
with the constable, and make a copy and have 
him leave it with Mr. Moore. It won't do for 
you to go. General, and it will make no odds now 
if they do know me as a lawyer, etc." They 
went off, stopped at the post office, where Mr. 
Couch copied the writ, and then drove to the 
house, where the officer delivered the copy. 

On their return, Mr. Couch said: "It is well 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 293 

that you did not come with us, as we found the 
house full of furious men and old Moore in a 
terrible rage. They would have torn you to 
pieces if you had accompanied us, General. 

Old Moore said 'I saw the d d old secesh 

put his hand on his six shooter in his outside 
coat pocket in the house' " — which I had, in- 
deed, done. 

On my return to Waterloo I asked the attor- 
neys what their bill was for that day's service. 
"Not a cent. General, it afforded us pleasure to 
serve you," A few weeks or days afterwards 
Mr. Couch gave Moore ten dollars, which I re- 
paid to him, and so the suit was not taken into 
court. 

I have since had the pleasure twice of voting 
to make Couch our judge ; and once of making- 
Mr. Boies the Governor of our State. The 
duties of both offices they filled with honor 
and distinction. Davis returned me thousands 
of thanks for the album, which I sent him by ex- 
press, and the ten dollars, which I did not want 
him to repay me. 



MY LAST VISIT TO JEFrERSON" DAVIS 

The next spring I went South to visit my old 
friends. Gen. Jefferson Davis, Wm. S. Harney, 
and their dear families. I telegraphed Davis 
from Arkansas City that I would call on him the 



294 GEORGE "WALLACE JONES 

next morning. And so I would have done but 
that our steamer got befogged. We got into 
New Orleans too late for the morning train and 
I had to stay at the St. Charles Hotel that night. 
I went the following morning, and reaching the 
depot at Beauvoir I was directed to Davis' 
house by the ticket agent. ''You must be Gen- 
eral Jones, as Mr. Davis came here for you 
yesterday morning." I walked briskly over to 
the Beauvoir mansion, where my ringing of the 
bell brought out a splendid young lady. When 
she told me that she was Miss Winnie Davis I 
took her into my arms and kissed her for her 
father and mother and told her that my name 
was Jones. The family were soon in the parlor 
with me and I had a most delightful visit of sev- 
eral days, at the close of which Mrs. Davis drove 
me over and left me at the hospitable home of 
my other old Black Hawk War friend. Gen. Wm. 
S. Harney, where I remained a few days. 

Talking with my old friend, Harney, as he lay 
upon his lounge after dinner, I told him of the 
newspaper article in the St. Louis Globe-Demo- 
crat, giving an account of Jefferson Davis being 
caught cheating at cards at Prairie du Chien 
and being slapped in the face and not resenting 
it. He bolted up and said : ' ' Slapped Jefferson 
Davis? Who ever slapped Jefferson Davis?" 
I replied: ''I tried to get the editor at St. Louis 
to tell me, but he would not." He then said: 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 295 

*^I am going to St. Louis next fall and I will 
make him give the name of the author to me, or 
I will cane him whilst I can stand. Jefferson 
Davis never played for money, and if he had, 
being an honorable man, he would never have 
cheated. He and I were like brothers and he 
was the only brother officer that I could ever 
get up early enough in the winter mornings, 
when we were stationed together at Fort "Win- 
nebago and Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, 
to cross the Mississippi and hunt for foxes, 
wolves, bears, deer, etc. He never, never failed 
me in any way and was the soul of chivalry, 
honor and bravery, etc." 

I spent a week or so with dear Harney, re- 
turned to Beauvoir, and after another sojourn 
there left my old friend — the last time I ever 
saw him alive. On the 3rd of December, 1889, 
when I called with my son George to see my old 
friend, Mrs. Gen. Warner Lewis, Mrs. Van Pelt 
(her daughter) came in from her office and in- 
formed me that she had bad news for me. * ' Oh ! 
what is it?" ^'The evening dispatches an- 
nounced that Jefferson Davis is very ill in New 
Orleans. " '' Well ! " I said at once, ' ' I '11 go off 
to-morrow night to see him, if possible, once 
more before he dies; but dead or alive, to see 
him before I myself shall die. " Sol took the 
Illinois Central train the next night at 10:30 
o'clock and went to New Orleans, which T 



296 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

reached in the night, a few hours before Ms 
death; but as the telegrams had announced at 
the various depots that he was improving, I de- 
ferred calling till next morning. I took the first 
street car for the St. Charles Hotel, where I got 
a city paper announcing that a chill had sud- 
denly taken Mr. Davis off. 

As soon as I got my trunk, I dressed myself 
and put off for the residence of Justice Fenner 
and his father-in-law, J. U. Paine, at whose 
house Davis died, to look upon the face and 
form of my departed friend. I found the tall 
iron gate locked with the emblem of death upon 
it. A servant girl took me into the residence, 
and I sent my card to Mrs. Davis and the 
family. Soon Mrs. Justice Fenner met me and 
said: ''General Jones, Mrs. Davis has declined 
to see any one to-day, but says she will see 
you," and she led me to the parlor door, and I 
walked in. There sat the heartbroken, newly 
made widow, bathed in tears, by the side of her 
noble, dead husband, who looked as if but 
asleep and much better than when I last had 
seen him at Beauvoir, about six years before. 
When I got up to leave, Mrs. Davis said: "Sit 
still. I want to talk with Jeff's old friend. I 
want you to write me when you get back home 
all that you knew of him in your college boy. 
Black Hawk, Dubuque, and Congressional 
days." 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 297 

All sorts of attentions and honors were paid 
to me by the friends of the dead hero, who were 
delighted to welcome me, the only man from the 
North who had travelled so far to see their la- 
mented friend. They invited me to all their 
meetings held in his memory and made me first 
pall bearer by the side of the Chief Justice, at 
whose house he had died. I have witnessed, 
and participated as a Senator in Congress in 
the funerals of distinguished men, members of 
the two Houses of Congress, Chief and Asso- 
ciate Justices of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, American and Foreign Minis- 
ters, etc., etc., but I never saw anything to be 
compared to the magnificence of the display in 
honor of Jefferson Davis' memory. Both sides 
of the streets and avenues were crowded with 
spectators, from the starting point until the last 
sad funeral rites were performed at the cem- 
etery. For five or six days and nights the 
corpse was visited by the immense concourse of 
his grief stricken friends, white and black, quad- 
roon and octoroon, shedding tears of regret for 
their lost, but never-to-be-forgotten, ''master 
and friend and President. ' ' 



FUND TO RELEASE MY HOMESTEAD 

I WAS wholly ignorant of the movement looking 
to the release of the mortgage on my homestead, 



298 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

or incidents relating thereto, until I received the 
letter of the Committee. I was told, however, 
that my old and dearly beloved friend, Edward 
Langworthy, when he heard of the project, sent 
a note to the Committee enclosing his check for 
one hundred dollars, saying in his note: "I'll 
send you five hundred or more if that is not 
enough." When Messrs. Graves and Rider en- 
tered the office of the late William Ryan, the 
pork-packer, the latter said: "Gentleman, I 
have no more money to give for any purpose." 
(The Committee soliciting funds for the Grand 
Army Reunion, then being held in this city, had 
been calling upon him for contributions.) Mr. 
Graves replied: "Answer your dispatch, for the 
messenger-boy is waiting for it, and then we'll 
tell you what we want. ' ' After the boy was sent 
off, Mr. Graves showed the subscription paper 
to Mr. Ryan, who had always been opposed po- 
litically to me, and who after reflecting for a 
few moments said: "I will give a check for the 
whole amount needed, $1900." "No, sir, we 
won't allow you to do that; we only want a 
small sum." He put it down, saying: "The 
people of Iowa, and especially of Dubuque, can 
never liquidate the debt due by them to General 
Jones." 

The next person they met was Archbishop 
Hennessy, who on looking at the paper said: 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 299 

''Yes, gentlemen, I'll give you any amount you 
say ; General Jones is entitled to every possible 
favor from the people of this city and State." 
I was overwhelmed with surprise and grati- 
tude at the reception of the letter of the Com- 
mittee and its enclosures, for I was wholly 
insolvent and knew not how to redeem my 
homestead, which had been sold under the fore- 
closure of the mortgage ; and I would not to-day 
have a dollar of money but for the generous, 
voluntary contribution, which took a load from 
my shoulders and made my desponding and 
idolized wife comfortable and happy. We had 
both been economical and industrious all our 
lives, and if she had lived nine months longer 
we would have celebrated our diamond wedding 
or 60th anniversary of our happy union. 



GENERAL DODGE'S DEATH 

When Gen. A. C. Dodge died, his second son, 
my namesake, Charles Jones Dodge, tele- 
graphed me : ' ' Your old friend and colleague 
has just died." I took the first train for Bur- 
lington and was made first pall bearer at his, 
the most impressive funeral that I had ever 
attended in Iowa, Chief Justice Fuller being 
also one of the pall bearers. On Sunday morn- 
ing, a few hours before he died, he asked his 



300 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

devoted wife if she thought Eev. Father Lowry 
would come to see him. She sent for the rev- 
erend friend, who at once came to the dying bed 
of the General, when the General asked him to 
baptize him. Rev. Father Lowry soon per- 
formed the sacred duty, which the General said 
he had long deferred, as, in his heart, he had for 
some years been a Catholic, and that he had 
regularly all his married life attended Mass 
with his wife and sons, especially at Madrid, in 
Spain, where he learned by heart the morning 
and evening prayers and the whole of the Mass 
in the Spanish language. He told me of this 
fact himself after his return home from Spain, 
and that he was the first English speaking min- 
ister who had ever taken leave of the Crowned 
Head of the Spanish Government in the Span- 
ish language. 

Gen. Dodge was an extraordinary man. He 
never went to college, save about nine months 
— to the country college, or school, of his 
father-in-law. Judge Joseph Hertich, where his 
wife and her three brothers, Joseph, Vilar and 
Charles, were his college, or schoolmates, as 
well as the Hon. J. D. Jenkins, who accompanied 
him on his run-away marriage trip to Kaskas- 
kia, Illinois. But Judge Hertich was a highly 
educated and splendid gentleman, who educated 
Gen. L. V. Bogy, late United States Senator 
from Missouri. The latter told me that he con- 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 301 

sidered Judge Hertich one of the most learned 
men that he had ever known. I knew the dear 
Judge well from my childhood and that he was 
highly educated, speaking and writing perfectly 
the German, French, Spanish and Latin lan- 
guages, and as one of the best mathematicians 
I ever knew, besides being an accomplished 
gentleman in every way. He was so considered 
by my father, Judge Jones, Hon. John Scott, 
Dr. Linn of Missouri, Judge Peck, and every 
gentleman who knew him. 



PENSION 

November 1, 1892, I went to Washington at the 
request of my grand-daughter, Katherine 
Stribling Jones, to give her in marriage to 
Clarence Edward Dawson. 

The first Monday in December I went up to 
the Senate, and while sitting next to Senator 
Allison, he said : ' ' Turpie is a great admirer of 
yours." "Why", said I, ''who is Turpie? I 
don 't know him. ' ' He answered : ' ' The Senator 
from Indiana ". " Which is he ? " I asked. And 
Senator Allison pointed him out to me sitting 
opposite to us on the Democratic side by Sena- 
tor Jones of Arkansas. "Well", said I, "I'll 
go over and introduce myself to him." I did 
so, and he asked me to take a vacant seat by his 
side, and we conversed for some time. 



302 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

The next day, unknown to me, he presented, 
and had passed unanimously through the Sen- 
ate, a bill granting me a pension of twenty dol- 
lars a month for my services as a drummer boy 
at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, in Capt. Wm. 
Linn's Company, in the war between the United 
States and Great Britain in 1812-1815, and as 
aid-de-camp to General Henry Dodge in the 
Black Hawk War of 1832. The bill was then 
sent over to the House and referred to the Com- 
mittee on Pensions. In a few days it unan- 
imously passed the House. 

Wlien the bill went back to the Senate from 
the House, I was then sitting by the side of 
Senator Palmer of Illinois, on the Democratic 
side of the House. As soon as it reached the 
Senate, Senator Sherman of Ohio moved that 
the Senate take a vote upon it, when it was 
passed again unanimously. The Senator from 
Wisconsin, Mr. Vilas, crossed over from his 
Eepublican side of the Senate to me saying: "I 
have come to congratulate you upon this bill. 
It is a great honor and pleasure to me to vote 
for the bill for the benefit of the man who made 
my State a Territory on the 4th of July, 1836, 
and gave it its name." Senator Gorman of 
Maryland also came up and said : * ' It is the first 
opportunity I have had to vote for a bill for a 
man to whom I am grateful for making me a 
page of the House in 1850." A great many 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 303 

other Senators also came up and congratulated 
me. 

A year after that another bill was unan- 
imously passed by Congress directing the 
Secretary of the Treasury to adjust my ac- 
counts as late Minister of the United States to 
Bogota, and pay me what was found to be due 
me. That bill was in like manner unanimously 
passed through both Houses of Congress. ^*^^ 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 



20 



305 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 
CHAPTER I 

1 Much information concerning John Rice Jones is 
given in Dunn's Indiana (see index), also in Houck's 
A History of Missouri (see index). 

2 Dunn's Indiana, p. 380. 

3 Houck's A History of Missouri, Vol. Ill, pp. 256, 
257. 

^ Houck makes the statement that Jones attended 
the school of Judge Hertich at Ste. Genevieve. — - 
Houck's A History of Missouri, Vol. Ill, p. 68. But 
this is probably a mistake. Jones himself in speaking 
of the death of A. C. Dodge tells of Dodge having at- 
tended the institution and speaks of knowing the 
Judge well himself from his childhood, but says noth- 
ing of being a pupil at the school. — Personal Recol- 
lections, see page 300 above. 

5 Mr. CD. Ham in an obituary of Jones states that 
"when Captain Linn was commissioned to raise a 
company of soldiers young Jones was the drummer 
boy who marched about the streets in that service". — 
Annals of loiva (Third Series), Vol. II, p. 564. 

6 Letter from E. A. Turpin to Jones, August 19, 
1823. This letter and a number of others from col- 
lege mates are preserved in the Correspondence of 
George W. Jones in the Historical Department, Des 
Moines, Iowa. This collection of letters and papers, 

307 



308 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

bound in fourteen large volumes, constitutes a valu- 
able body of source material upon the life of Jones 
and his contemporaries. The files of his correspond- 
ence are not, however, complete, many letters having 
been destroyed before the collection was turned over 
to the Historical Department. 

" Strong, in his History of the Territory of Wis- 
consin, states that Jones was admitted to the bar in 
1826 (p. 235), but Jones himself in no case has been 
found to confirm this statement; and Lewis F. Linn, 
who knew Jones very intimately at this time, stated 
to Martin Van Buren, when recommending Jones for 
the Governorship of the Territory of Iowa, that Jones 
had ' ' read law for some time simply to aid him in the 
business of life ' '. — Letter from Lewis F. Linn to 
Martin Van Buren, June 8, 1838. A copy of this let- 
ter is preserved in the library of The State Historical 
Society of Iowa, at Iowa City, Iowa. 

^ Strong's History of the Territory of Wisconsin, 
p. 117. 

'^ Strong's History of the Territory of Wisconsin, 
p. 118. This explanation of the origin of the term is 
also given in Langworthy's Early Settlement of the 
West in The loiva Journal of History and Politics, 
Vol. VIII, No. 3, p. 361. The above mentioned sketch 
is one of several written by the Langworthy brothers. 
The sketches are edited by John Carl Parish in the 
issue of The loiva Journal of History and Politics 
above referred to. They give considerable informa- 
tion in regard to the early history of the Galena lead 
mining district, in which the Langworthy brothers 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 309 

were early settlers. They also portray vividly the 
habits of life and the methods of mining among both 
Indians and whites of the early days. 

^" Letters from J. Burgess Thomas, Jr., to Jones, 
July 16, 1829, and April 30, 1830. — Correspondence 
of George W. Jones in the Historical Department, Des 
Moines, Iowa. 

11 Autobiography, p. 142 above. 

12 Letter from B. Allen to Jones, February 21, 1835, 
and letter from C. K. Gardner, Assistant Postmaster 
General, to Jones, March 11, 1835. — Correspondence 
of George W. Jones in the Historical Department, Des 
Moines, Iowa. 

1^ Salter's Letters of Henry Dodge to Gen. George 
W. Jones in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. 
Ill, No. 3, p. 220. This series of letters, begun in the 
issue above indicated, is continued in the three subse- 
quent issues and contains many facts of interest and 
value regarding both men. 

1^ Pelzer's Henry Dodge, p. 67. 

1^ Dodge was made Colonel of a regiment of United 
States Dragoons in ]\Iarch, 1833, and his new duties 
led him into the Southwest, far afield from the Galena 
lead mines. — Pelzer's Henry Dodge, pp. 80-127, 212. 

1*^ Letters from Thomas Legate and from W. H, 
Ashley to Jones, January 10, 1834, and April 8, 1834. 
— Correspondence of George W. Jones in the His- 
torical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

1^ Letter from Lucius Lyon to George W. Jones, 



310 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

July 6, 1834. — Correspondence of George W. Jones 
in the Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

18 Thwaites's Wisconsin, pp. 232-235. 

i» Cooley's Michigan, p. 214. 

2*^ Strong's History of the Territory of Wisconsin, 
p. 192. 

CHAPTER II 

21 Congressional Glohe, 1st Session, 24tli Congress, 
p. 3. 

22 Letter from Lucius Lyon to Austin E. Wing, De- 
cember 27, 1835. — Michigan Pioneer and Historical 
Collections, Vol. XXVII, p. 468. In this volume are 
printed copies of letters and portions of letters to the 
number of several hundred, written by Lucius Lyon 
between the years of 1822 and 1845. They are of 
great value in illuminating the history of Michigan 
and the Northwest during those years. 

23 Strong's History of the Territory of Wisconsiii, 
pp. 193-195. 

2^ Letter from Lucius Lyon to John S. Horner, No- 
vember 30, 1835. — Michigan Pioneer and Historical 
Collections, Vol. XXVII, pp. 463, 464. 

25 Interesting bits of correspondence passed among 
the various parties — Jones, Horner, Woodbridge, 
etc., — during December. Jones wanted his certificate 
sent as soon as possible and in case of contest, a certi- 
fied copy of the returns ; Woodbridge clamored for his 
certificate and haunted the office of the harassed Sec- 
retary, while even the former Secretary, Stevens T. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 311 

Mason, took a hand in the game by writing to his suc- 
cessor urging that a certificate be withheld until the 
returns for Jones were in from the west side of the 
lake. These letters are printed among the School- 
craft Papers in the Michigan Pioneer and Historical 
Collections, Vol. XXXVII, pp. 381, 382, 384, 385, 390- 
393, 395-397, 399-402, 405-407. 

26 Strong's History of the Territory of Wisconsin, 
p. 197. 

2^ Letter from John S. Horner to George W. Jones, 
January 12, 1836. — Correspondence of George W. 
Jones in the Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

28 Strong's History of the Territory of Wisconsin, 
p. 198. 

29 Letter from Lucius Lyon to W. L. Newberry, 
February 21, 1836. — Michigan Pioneer and Historical 
Collections, Vol. XXVII, p. 478. 

^^ Letters from Lucius Lyon to W. L. Newberry, 
February 21, and March 28, 1836. — Michigan Pioneer 
and Historical Collections, Vol. XXVII, pp. 478, 491. 

31 Congressional Olohe, 1st Session, 24th Congress, 
p. 81. 

32 Congressional Glohe, 1st Session, 24th Congress, 
p. 127. 

33 Congressional Glohe, 1st Session, 24th Congress, 
p. 314. 

34 Autoiiography, pp. 103-110, above. 

33 Strong's History of the Territory of Wisconsin, 
pp. 221, 222. See also a letter from H. Crocker to 



312 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

George W. Jones, January 13, 1837. — Correspondence 
of George W. Jones in the Historical Department, Des 
Moines, loM^a. Henry Dodge was also accused of be- 
ing interested in the town of Belmont. 

2*5 He added that the tract embraced about 1300 
acres and would cost about $2000. Letter from James 
D. Doty to George W. Jones, June 2, 1836.— Cor- 
respondence of George W. Jones in the Historical De- 
partment, Des jMoines, Iowa. 

3'^ Letter from James D. Doty to George W. Jones, 
June 2, 1836. — Correspondence of George W. Jones 
in the Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

3* Letter from James D. Doty to George W. Jones, 
December 24, 1836. — Correspondence of George W. 
Jones in the Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 
This letter is by mistake bound among the letters of 
December, 1837. On the back of the letter is the fol- 
lowing memorandum by Jones: — 

"Reed Jany 17—1837 Ansd Jan 19. 1837 Claimed 
right to 2/24 of Madison tract of land instead of 
1/24 as agreed upon before I knew that there was to 
be a town laid off on said tract — 
GW Jones." 

^^ Letter from James D. Doty to George W. Jones, 
February 7, 1837. — Correspondence of George W. 
Jones in the Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

4*^ Congressional Globe, 2nd Session, 25th Congress, 
pp. 394, 512. 

^1 Congressional Globe, 2nd Session, 25th Congress, 
p. 432. Motion of Mr. Mercer of Virginia. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 313 

^2 An excellent summary of the objections raised in 
the House of Representatives is to be found in Sham- 
baugh's History of the Constitutions of loiva, pp. 97- 
104. See also the Congressional Globe, 2nd Session, 
25th Congress, pp. 428, 431, 432, and Appendix to the 
Congressional Globe, 2nd Session, 25th Congress, pp. 
511, 514. 

^^ Autobiography, pp. 161, 162, above. See also 
Langworthy's The Early History of Dubuque, re- 
printed in The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, 
Vol. VIII, p. 393. 

^^ C. D. Ham in an obituary notice of George W. 
Jones printed in a Dubuque newspaper and reprinted 
in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. II, No. 7, 
p. 563. F. B. Wilkie tells of an occurrence of this 
nature which he says took place in St. Louis in 1827. 
Jones and a Lieutenant Williams of the United States 
army had an altercation in the bar room of a hotel 
over a glass of lemonade. Williams challenged Jones 
and the latter accepted. The spot selected was a small 
island in the Mississippi River. While the seconds 
were arranging the preliminaries upon the field of 
combat, considerable time elapsed and Jones being 
somewhat fatigued lay down and went to sleep. 
He was awakened with some difficulty. This in- 
cident seems to have affected the nerve of his 
opponent so that he apologized and withdrew his chal- 
lenge rather than continue the duel. — Wilkie 's George 
W. Jones in the Iowa Historical Record, Vol. Ill, No. 
2, April, 1887, pp. 449, 450. This biographical sketch 
was written for the Chicago Times and is reprinted 



314 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

therefrom with little if any change. It was prepared 
by Wilkie after an interview with Jones himself and 
the writer also shows familiarity with the manuscript 
of parts of the Autobiography and Personal Recol- 
lections printed in this volume. 

*5 The report of this committee, which gives a de- 
tailed account of the duel, is printed in the Congres- 
sional Glohe, 2nd Session, 25th Congress, pp. 329-333. 

^® Copies of a number of these petitions and letters 
are preserved in the library of The State Historical 
Society of Iowa, at Iowa City, Iowa. 

^■^ Letter from James D. Doty to George W. Jones, 
December 24, 1837. — Correspondence of George W. 
Jones in the Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

^^ Strong's History of the Territory of Wisconsin, 
pp. 270, 271. 

4^ This opinion was printed and copies laid upon 
the desks of the members of the House of Represen- 
tatives. A copy of the opinion is preserved in the 
library of The State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa 
City, Iowa. 

^'^ United States Statutes at Large, Vol. Ill, p. 363. 

51 This report is printed in full in the Congressional 
Glohe, 3rd Session, 25th Congress, p. 90 ; see also p. 56. 

52 Congressional Globe, 3rd Session, 25th Congress, 
pp. 95, 96. 

53 This land comprised about 300 acres, and in 1837 
he had conveyed to Daniel Webster an undivided in- 
terest in one-eighth of the land and of the ferry. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 315 

Later on, the attorney of Jones asked to have a writ 
of attachment served on Webster for payment for this 
interest. A copy of the agreement under Webster's 
signature may be found in the Correspondence of 
George W. Jones in the Historical Department, Des 
Moines, Iowa. The date of the agreement is March 1, 
1837 ; but the document is by mistake bound with the 
papers for March, 1857. See also in the same collec- 
tion letters from Francis J. Dunn to Jones, May 15, 
and June 1, 1843, for hints of trouble between the 
two owners. 

54 Laws of the Territory of loiva, 1839-1840, p. 139. 
In 1840, he seems to have petitioned the legislature for 
a monopoly of the ferry privilege at Dubuque and an 
annulment of the charter of Timothy Fanning, a 
statement being appended, signed by ten prominent 
citizens of Dubuque to the effect that Fanning had 
not been keeping up the ferry and that passengers 
must be transported by Jones in his ferry. — Cor- 
respondence of George W. Jones (1840) in the His- 
torical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. The petition 
was not granted. 

55 Correspondence of George W. Jones (January 
and February, 1840) in the Historical Department, 
Des Moines, Iowa. 

°^ A copy of this lease under date of March 16, 
1840, is to be found in the Correspondence of George 
W. Jones in the Historical Department, Des Moines, 
Iowa. The consideration was $175 each quarter year. 

5'^ Letters from Elisha Dwelle to George W. Jones, 
January 13, 1843, and from Jefferson Crawford to 



316 GEOKGE WALLACE JONES 

George W. Jones, January 22, 1843. — Correspondence 
of George W. Jones in the Historical Department, Des 
Moines, Iowa. See also Wilkie's George W. Jones in 
the Iowa Historical Record, Vol. Ill, No. 2, p. 440. 

^s Letter from Charles Dunn to George "W. Jones, 
October 4, 1843. — Correspondence of George W. Jones 
in the Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

■^^ Rodolf s Pioneering in the Wisconsin Lead Re- 
gion in Collections of the State Historical Society of 
Wisconsin, Vol. XV, p. 381. 

•^•^ Copy of letter from George W. Jones to James 
Clarke, June 6, 1846. — Correspondence of George W. 
Jones in the Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

^1 Pelzer's Augustus Caesar Dodge, Ch. IX; Clark's 
History of the Election of United States Senators 
from Iowa, Ch. I; and Martin's A Bribery Episode 
in the First Election of United States Senators in 
Iowa in The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, 
Vol. VII, No. 4, pp. 483-502. 

CHAPTER III 

*'- Congressional Glohe, 2nd Session, 30th Congress, 
p. 143. 

''•^ Congressional Glohe, 1st Session, 31st Congress, 
pp. 1240, 1241. 

^^ Journal of the Senate, 1st Session, 31st Congress, 
pp. 409, 410. 

^^ Congressional Glohe, 1st Session, 31st Congress, 
p. 852. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 317 

^^ Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 31st Congress, 
p. 1389. One of these resolutions was from a district 
convention at Davenport met to nominate a Congress- 
man. The other was from the State Democratic Con- 
vention called together to nominate a Governor and 
other State officials. 

•^^ Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 
31st Congress, p. 1716. A typographical error in the 
Appendix gives the date as July 19, 1850. It should 
be July 16, 1850. 

^^ Journal of the Senate, 1st Session, 31st Congress, 
pp. 557, 561, 581, 637. Only four members of the 
Senate actually voted for the final passage of all the 
measures. One of these four was Senator Augustus 
Caesar Dodge of Iowa. 

^^ Journal of the Senate, 1st Session, 31st Congress, 
p. 561. 

"'^ Laws of loiva, 1850-1851, p. 244. This injunction 
is especially significant because the only part of the 
measure which could be conformed to or carried out 
by the individual citizens was the fugitive slave clause. 

■^1 Pelzer's Augustus Caesar Dodge, Ch. XIII on 
''The Iowa Land Bill". 

■^2 Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 32nd Congress, 
p. 763. 

''^ Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 32nd Congress, 
pp. 763-765. Jones states that he and Dodge did not 
receive notice of this memorial until long after the bill 
was reported. This is strange since the memorial was 



318 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

approved on February 4, 1851, more than a year pre- 
vious. — Laws of Iowa, 1850-1851, pp. 264, 265. 

■^^ Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 
32nd Congress, p. 680. 

''^ See the account of these occurrences by Jones 
himself in his Autobiography in the present volume, 
pp. 189-205. See also the Washington Union for May 
29, 1852, which contains a card from Dodge and Jones 
denying the intimation that considerations had been 
given for their support, and the issue of the same 
paper for June 10, 1852, which contains a letter from 
Stephen A. Douglas in answer to the matter. Copies 
of the card and of Douglas's letter are to be found in 
the Correspondence of George W. Jones in the His- 
torical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

■^^ A letter from W. F. Coolbaugh to George "W. 
Jones, September 10, 1852, urges Jones to attend a 
Democratic mass meeting at Burlington, on October 4, 
1852, since it will do much to heal the breach between 
Jones and the Democracy of Des Moines County. — 
Correspondence of George W. Jones in the Historical 
Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

"^■^ Burlington Daily Telegraph, Vol. II, No. 155, 
December 8, 1852. 

■^^ Davenport Democratic Banner, Vol. V, No. 8, De- 
cember 24, 1852. 

■^9 An excellent account of this campaign and the 
election is found in Clark's History of the Election of 
United States Senators from Iowa, Ch. III. 

80 The debate on this bill in the Senate is found in 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 319 

the Congressional Gloie, 1st Session, 34th Congress, 
pp. 1166-1172. On May 12, 1856, Senator Crittenden 
moved a reconsideration of the bill and precipitated 
another debate. His motion, however, was lost. — Con- 
gressional Globe, 1st Session, 34th Congress, p. 1220. 

8^ Letter from John R. Allen to George "W. Jones, 
November 3, 1857. — Correspondence of George W. 
Jones in the Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 
This letter tells of an attempt at Keokuk to make can- 
didates for the General Assembly pledge not to vote 
for Jones for reelection to the United States Senate. 

^~ Clark's History of the Election of United States 
Senators from Iowa, Ch. V. 

83 These resolutions are printed in full in the Con- 
gressional Globe, 1st Session, 35th Congress, p. 566. 
For some reason the resolutions do not appear in the 
Laws of Iowa for this session (1858). 

8* Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 35th Congress, 
p. 566. 

s^ Senate Reports, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. I, 
Report No. 82. 

^^ For the newspaper comments and the letters of 
Douglas and Jones, see the Autobiography, pp. 189- 
205, above. 

CHAPTEE IV 

8" A good description of Bogota may be found in 
Scruggs 's The Colombian and Venezuelan Republics, 
Ch. VI and following. 

s® Dawson's The South American Republics, Part II, 
pp. 460-462. 



320 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

^^ See the Autobiography, pp. 235-247, above. 

90 The Dubuque WeeUy Herald, Vol. XXII, No. 2, 
July 16, 1862, contains a copy of the letter of Jones to 
Davis, a copy of a letter from Jones to Mahoney ex- 
plaining his attitude, and an editorial comment which 
to a certain extent endorses the defense by Jones. 

91 This letter is printed in the Burlington Weekly 
Argus, Vol. I, No. 8, July 11, 1862. The editor of the 
paper, though strongly Democratic and disposed to be 
friendly toward Jones, will not have him as a Demo- 
crat, but insists that he has, by his own volition, put 
himself outside the pale of this organization. 

92 See above, pp. 44, 45. 

93 Dubuque Weekly Herald, Vol. XXII, No. 2, July 
16, 1862. 

94 Burlington Weekly Argus, Vol. I, No. 8, July 11, 
1862. 

95 The order for this release may be found in the 
New York Weekly Tribune, Vol. XXI, No. 1067, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1862. The notice of the release of Jones and 
other prisoners on the 22nd of February appears in 
the New York Weekly Tribune, Vol. XXI, No. 1068, 
March 1, 1862. 

90 Burlington Weekly Argus, Vol. I, No. 1, May 24, 
1862. 

9' Dubuque Weekly Herald, Vol. XXII, No. 2, July 
16, 1862. 

9s Dunn's Indiana, see index under Jones. 

99 Dubuque Weekly Herald, Vol. XXII, No. 2, July 
16, 1862. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 321 

1^" Congressional Record, 1st Session, 52nd Con- 
gress, pp. 44, 4456, 4562, 4563. 

1^^ Pioneer Law-Makers Association of Iowa, 1892, 
p. 79. 

102 Aniials of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. I, No. 2, p. 
154. 

1*^3 House Journal of the State of Iowa, 25th Gen- 
eral Assembly, p. 822. 

10^ Senate Journal of the State of Iowa, 25th Gen- 
eral Assembly, pp. 766, 767. 

105 House Journal of the State of Iowa, 25th Gen- 
eral Assembly, p. 988. 

AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

106 This friendship between Harrison and John Rice 
Jones came to an abrupt end before the removal of 
Jones from Vincennes. — See Dunn's Indiana, pp. 307, 
361. Harrison in 1828 became Minister to Bogota, 
a post to which George "W. Jones himself was as- 
signed some thirty years later. 

^^"^ Snyder's Forgotten Statesmen of Illinois in Pub- 
lication No. 9 of the Illinois State Historical Library, 
p. 515. See also Dunn's Indiana, p. 376. 

i^'s It seems evident that Jones is mistaken in this 
date. John Rice Jones was President of the upper 
house of the legislature of the Territory of Indiana in 
the session of 1808-1809 ; and after the close of the 
session, in 1809, he removed to the Territory of Illi- 
nois, moving on to Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, in 1810. 
— Dunn's Indiana, pp. 367, 368, 378, 380. 

21 



322 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

^^^ Under an act of Congress providing for a dona- 
tion of one hundred acres of land to each militiaman 
enrolled and doing duty in the Illinois on the first 
day of August, 1790, John Rice Jones was granted 
title to that amount of land within the district of 
Kaskaskia. — See American State Papers, Public 
Lands, Vol. II, p. 170. An examination of the rec- 
ords in the volume named shows that Jones was very 
active in the acquisition of claims from the original 
claimants. 

In the session of Congress of 1850-1851 a bill passed 
the Senate of the United States confirming a claim 
made by the heirs of John Rice Jones to 3485 acres 
of land. The bill did not come to a vote in the House. 
— See Congressional Globe, 2nd Session, 31st Con- 
gress, pp. 25, 26, 36. 

110 See note 108, above. 

111 Of the men named here as college mates and also 
colleagues of Jones in Congress, three at least — 
Cates, Tibbatts, and Peters were not members of Con- 
gress during any of the sessions in which Jones 
served. — Cf. Biographical Congressional Directory, 
1774 to 1903. 

112 John Scott served Missouri as Delegate and 
Representative during eleven regular sessions of Con- 
gress. 

11^ This was Lewis F. Linn, who served afterwards 
for many years as United States Senator from Mis- 
souri. 

11^ It is possible that two-thirds of the ferry was 
sold to "Webster, but it is not probable. Among the 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 323 

papers of George W. Jones is a copy of an agreement 
between Jones and AVebster whereby Jones conveyed 
to Webster an undivided eighth interest in the ferry. 
The date of this agreement was March 1, 1837, and 
the consideration $2,500. — Correspondence of George 
W. Jones in the Historical Department, Des Moines, 
Iowa. By mistake the document is bound with the 
papers bearing date of 1857. 

11^ Among other properties of a speculative nature, 
Jones OM^ned a portion of the town site of Sioux City, 
Iowa, when that town was organized in the fifties. 
"Webster was no longer living at this time. 

^^® Jones here falls into error. Edward Bates was 
offered a Cabinet position by Fillmore, but he de- 
clined the honor. 

1^" Here again the memory of Jones is at fault. 
The reorganization of the Cabinet by Fillmore took 
place in the summer of 1850, not 1849. Nor was he 
the only Democratic Senator from Iowa at that time, 
since A, C. Dodge had been elected upon the same day 
as Jones; and the two men, both Democrats, took 
their seats together and served together until Dodge 
was supplanted by Harlan in 1855. 

lis See note 112 above. 

11^ This incident is interesting in view of the fact 
that Jones gives elsewhere as his reason for seeking 
election as United States Senator in 1848 that he 
feared removal from the office of Surveyor General 
when President Taylor should take office in the spring 
of 1849. 

120 See note 112 above. 



324 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

121 A copy of this letter may be found in the Cor- 
respondence of George W. Jones in the Historical De- 
partment, Des Moines, Iowa. 

122 On October 4, 1843, Dunn wrote to Jones an- 
nouncing that Mr. McSherry had died the day before 
and that, as promised, he was sending to Jones a com- 
mission as clerk. Jones was probably mistaken in 
placing the time as the fall of 1842. Dunn's letter is 
in the Correspondence of George W. Jones in the His- 
torical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 

123 This first appointment was made in January, 
1840. See letters from Lewis F. Linn to Jones, Janu- 
ary 29, and January 31, 1840. — Correspondence of 
George W. Jones in the Historical Department, Des 
Moines, Iowa. 

124 Jones evidently has in mind the appointment of 
Henry Dodge as Major of Mounted Rangers. His 
commission to that office is dated June 22, 1832. On 
March 4, 1833, he was commissioned Colonel of 
United States Dragoons. — Pelzer's Henry Dodge, pp. 
67, 80. 

125 rphe Territory of Michigan, though of vast ex- 
tent, did not include all the land here ascribed to it 
by Jones. It comprised the land which now consti- 
tutes the States of ]\Iichigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minne- 
sota, and the eastern portions of the States of North 
and South Dakota. — See Shambaugh 's Maps Illus- 
trative of the Bomidary History of loiva in The Iowa 
Journal of History and Politics, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 
369-380. 

126 This is a mistake. Jones was elected Delegate 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 325 

from the Territory of Michigan in 1835 and Delegate 
from the Territory of Wisconsin in 1836. In 1838 he 
was defeated for reelection by James D. Doty. 

127 See note 122 above. 

12S The original bill, approved July 2, 1836, did not 
make grants to the towns but provided for the laying 
off of the towns in tracts not to exceed one section, or 
640 acres, in extent. The preemption rights were 
limited to one acre for each person. — United States 
Statutes at Large, Vol. V, pp. 70, 71. The amendment 
was passed in the next session and approved March 
8, 1837. It provided for the carrying on of the work 
by a board of commissioners and for the payment of 
the net proceeds to the individual towns for public 
improvements. — United States Statutes at Large, Vol. 
V, pp. 178, 179. 

129 According to Lucius H. Langworthy — pioneer 
settler of Dubuque — the elder Smith was killed by 
Woodbury IMassey's brother before the incident in- 
volving the sister occurred. The death of the elder 
Smith soon brought his son to Dubuque and Louisa 
Massey fired upon him with the purpose of preventing 
his taking revenge upon her brother. Her shot did 
not prove fatal. — See Langworthy 's The Early His- 
tory of Dubuque, reprinted in The lotva Journal of 
History and Politics, Vol. VIII, No. 3, pp. 386-389. 

130 This is of course an error. Congress has no 
power to enact a law of this nature and of general 
application. An attempt was made to pass a law 
prohibiting the giving or accepting, within the limits 
of the District of Columbia, of a challenge to a duel. 



326 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

This was within the power of Congress, and a bill for 
this purpose passed the Senate on April 9, 1838, with 
only one dissenting vote. — Congressional Globe, 2nd 
Session, 25th Congress, p. 292, It failed, however, to 
reach a vote in the House, 

131 This debate took place February 12, 1838, "Wise 
was the most active participant. John Bell did not 
take part in the debate; and Bailie Peyton, although 
he had served in the preceding Congress, was not at 
this time a member of the House of Representatives. 

12- Jones, in relating this occurrence, evidently did 
not consult the Congressional Globe, and his account 
is therefore inaccurate. The statement by Cilley is 
reported in the Globe as follows : 

''He [Cilley] knew nothing of this editor; but if it 
was the same editor who had once made grave charges 
against an institution of this country [the United 
States Bank], and afterwards was said to have re- 
ceived facilities to the amount of some $52,000 from 
the same institution, and gave it his hearty support, 
he did not think that his charges were entitled to 
much credit in an American Congress. ' ' — Congres- 
sional Globe, 2nd Session, 25th Congress, p. 173. No 
evidence appears in the Globe that the interrogatories 
mentioned by Jones were ever put by Wise and others 
to Cilley. 

133 A brief correspondence followed between Graves 
and Cilley in which Graves endeavored to have Cil- 
ley answer categorically whether or not he had re- 
fused to receive Webb 's communication on the ground 
of any personal exception to him (Webb) as a gentle- 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 327 

man or a man of honor. This Cilley refused to do and 
on Friday, February 23d, the challenge was given by 
Graves and accepted by Cilley. In the Congressional 
Glohe, 2nd Session, 25th Congress, pp. 329-333, is 
printed the report of the investigating committee of 
the House of Representatives. In the report are in- 
cluded copies of the above mentioned correspondence, 
and a rather detailed description of the duel itself. 
The committee recommended the expulsion of Graves 
and the censuring of Wise and Jones. There was 
much discussion, but no definite action was taken 
upon the report and resolutions. 

^^^ Jones had not at this time definitely aligned 
himself with the Democratic party, believing that 
more could be accomplished for his constituents by a 
neutral position and by securing favors from both 
parties. — See Langworthy 's The Early History of 
Duhuque, reprinted in The Iowa Journal of History 
and Politics, Vol. VIII, No. 3, p. 393. 

1^^ See note 134 above. 

13^ The duel was not postponed to the following 
day. In the letter from Jones to Wise arranging 
matters for Mr. Cilley, he proposed twelve o'clock 
noon on Saturday, February 24. It was found im- 
possible to get ready by this time and the duel was 
fought shortly after three o'clock on this same day, 
Saturday, the 24th. — Congressional Globe, 2nd Ses- 
sion, 25th Congress, p. 330. 

^^'' It is difficult to determine just how much in- 
fluence Clay really exerted in bringing about this 
duel. If he was implicated in any way by those who 



328 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

were examined before the investigating committee, no 
indication of it appears in the report of that com- 
mittee. 

138 The meeting to which Jones probably refers was 
held on March 31, 1838. A resolution was passed 
asking Congress to make an appropriation for the 
survey of the ' ' first permanent link in the great chain 
of direct steam communication between the extreme 
east and the far west, which the determined spirit of 
American enterprise has decreed shall speedily con- 
nect the waters of our two opposite oceans". — King's 
Joh7i Plumbe, Originator of the Pacific Railroad in 
the Amials of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. VI, No. 4, pp. 
291, 292. 

Jones is recorded as presenting on May 21, 1838, a 
petition praying ' ' for the survey of a route for a rail- 
road from the Mississippi river, at Dubuque, to Mil- 
waukie, Wisconsin Territory". And for this purpose 
he secured an appropriation of $2,000. — Congres- 
sional Glohe, 2nd Session, 25th Congress, pp. 394, 512. 

13^ Jones is perhaps confused here by a remem- 
brance of an appropriation of $10,000 granted at this 
same session of Congress for the construction of a 
road between Dubuque and Milwaukee. The appro- 
priation for the railroad was only $2,000. 

140 There was no motion made to reconsider the vote 
by which Jones was declared not entitled to his seat. 
Debate occurred over the question of pay upon a 
resolution denying him the right to compensation. 
At the close of the debate the resolution was defeated 
by a vote of 89 to 96. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 329 

1^1 This appointment was made in January, 1840. 

^^2 Copies of several of these letters and petitions 
were appended by Jones, together with other miscel- 
laneous papers, to the manuscript of his Autobiogra- 
phy and Personal Recollections. In editing the 
manuscript it was thought best not to include them in 
the present volume. Copies of these papers are pre- 
served in the library of The State Historical Society 
of Iowa at Iowa City, Iowa, and may be consulted 
there. 

143 Tiiis is a curious statement from Jones inasmuch 
as he was flooded with petitions of all kinds and 
seemed always anxious, wherever possible, to act upon 
the suggestions of his constituents. 

1^^ This joint convention occurred on December 18, 
1846. The vote stood twenty-nine for Jonathan Mc- 
Carty, twenty-eight for Thomas S. Wilson, and one 
for Gilbert C. R. Mitchell. Thus McCarty came with- 
in one vote and Wilson within two votes of being 
elected. No election occurred at this session. — 
Clark's History of the Election of United States Sen- 
ators from Iowa, Ch. I. 

^■*5 The article referred to is one by Hawkins Tay- 
lor entitled The First Territorial Legislature of loiva, 
printed in the loiva Historical Becord, Vol. VI, No, 3, 
pp. 516-522, July, 1890. In the course of the article 
he digresses to give some particulars regarding the 
first election of United States Senators from Iowa. 

^^^ This statement is hardly in keeping with the fact 
that John Rice Jones, the father of George W. Jones, 
was a strong candidate against Benton for the United 



330 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

States Senatorship from Missouri at the first election 
in that State. See above p. 78. 

1^' No such motion is recorded in the Congressional 
Glohe. 

^^s The Vice President was absent upon the day on 
which Jones and Dodge w^ere sworn in and David R. 
Atchison, President pro tem of the Senate, was in the 
chair. — Congressional Glohe, 2nd Session, 30th Con- 
gress, p. 96. 

1^^ Jones served as Chairman of the Committee on 
Pensions from 1849 to 1859, as Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Engrossed Bills from 1849 to 1851, and as 
Chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills from 
1851 to 1859. If, by the "California Special Com- 
mittee of 1850", he means the Select Committee of 
Thirteen which was appointed with Clay as Chairman 
to adjust the measures of compromise, he is mistaken 
as to his membership. He was not a member nor did 
he receive a vote in the course of the election of the 
members of the Committee. — Congressional Globe, 1st 
Session, 31st Congress, p. 780. 

1^^ This must have been in 1859 as the further con- 
text shows, since it was in the spring of that year 
that Aaron V. Brown died and was succeeded by 
Joseph Holt of Tennessee as Postmaster General. It 
was asserted in several Iowa newspapers at the time 
that Jones was desirous of being appointed to succeed 
Brown. — The Iowa Citizen (Des Moines), Vol. IV, 
No. 5, March 16, 1859. 

1^1 This amendment was presented and adopted in 
the Senate on April 29, 1850. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 331 

1^2 This was Edward D. Baker, a Whig Represen- 
tative from Illinois. 

153 The debate occurred on May 28, 1852. Mr. 
Campbell made the remark: "By the urgent request 
of at least one of her [Iowa's] Senators, who moved 
the amendment himself, the road was extended from 
Galena, its legal, just, and commercial terminus, to 
Dubuque, in the State of Iowa, which, considering the 
injury it inflicted upon Galena, w'as in every way an 
equivalent and full consideration for the support 
wiiich the measure received from the State of Iowa." 
— Appendix to the Congressional Glohe, 1st Session, 
32nd Congress, p. 680. 

i'^^ The editorials and correspondence which follow 
in ten point type are taken from The Fort Dodge 
Sentinel, Vol. Ill, No. 6, January 15, 1859. The copy 
left by Jones has been compared with the original and 
made to conform to it in the few particulars in which 
it differed. 

loo "William A. Richardson was a Representative 
from Illinois from December 6, 1847, to August 25, 
1856, when he resigned. He was not a member of 
Congress in 1858, as Jones implies. 

^^^ The Iowa Citizen (Des Moines), for April 13, 
1859, announces the acceptance of the post at Bogota 
by Jones. 

15'^ The term bungo was applied to the large canoes 
used for transportation on the Magdalena River. 
They were usually provided with oval roofs of bam- 
boo and thatch. They were propelled by poles and 
paddles and sometimes hauled up through the rapids 



332 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

by ropes and windlasses. — Scruggs 's The Colomhian 
and Venezuelan Republics, p. 45. 

i^s The remarks of Senator Jones are recorded in the 
Congressional Globe, 1st Session, 32nd Congress, p. 
1636. In this tribute he speaks of his early association 
with Clay while a student at Lexington, Kentucky, 
under Clay's sponsorship. He dwells upon Clay's 
services in connection with the Compromise measures 
of 1850. He also gives his impressions of Clay upon 
the occasion of a visit by Jones to Ashland soon after 
the Compromise, and later when he accompanied Clay 
upon a trip to Havana, Cuba. Jones tells of this trip 
on page 278 of this volume. He was made a member 
of the Committee of Arrangements at the time of the 
exercises in the Senate upon the death of Clay. — 
Co7igressio7ial Globe, 1st Session, 32nd Congress, p. 
1637. 

1^9 Jones is somewhat confused in his memory of 
these events. The veto of the bill to re-charter the 
United States Bank took place as early as 1832, while 
Jackson did not succeed in accomplishing the removal 
of the deposits, through Secretary Taney, until late in 
1833. 

160 rpjjjg ^jgj|. from Jefferson Davis was in the early 
part of 1837. Davis's wife died in September, 1836, 
and Davis, himself recovering from a serious illness, 
made a trip to Cuba for recuperation. He returned 
by way of Washington where the Tiber incident oc- 
curred. — Dodd's Jefferson Davis, pp. 43-47. 

1^1 No such remark as is here quoted appears in the 
speech of Foote which was the immediate cause of the 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 333 

incident. — Congressional Glode, 1st Session, 31st Con- 
gress, p. 762. 

162 The scene in the Senate Chamber occurred on 
April 17, 1850, in the course of a speech by Foote 
attacking Benton. It was one of a number of speeches 
by the same Senator, containing abusive remarks and 
allusions. Perhaps the most bitter of these outbursts 
took place on March 26, 1850. — Congressional Glohe, 
1st Session, 31st Congress, pp. 602, 603, 762. 

1^2 It is difficult to tell just what Jones means by 
these statements. Neither Sheldon nor McKnight ap- 
pear to have held the office of Delegate from the Ter- 
ritory of Michigan, and the year 1835 was the year in 
which Jones himself was elected to that office, having 
as his opposing candidates the three men mentioned: 
Woodbridge, Doty, and Martin. In the year 1834 
Sheldon was appointed to a newly created land office 
in the lead mining region — a post for which Jones 
was a candidate. — See above, pp. 11, 12. 

1^^ Henry Clay Dean was chosen Chaplain of the 
United States Senate on December 4, 1855. — Con- 
gressional Glohe, 1st Session, 34tli Congress, p. 4. The 
friendship of George W. Jones and Henry Clay Dean 
is interesting in view of the antipodal ideas which 
they held in regard to personal appearance. Jones 
was scrupulously well groomed and fastidious in his 
dress to the utmost degree, while Dean in matters of 
this nature went to the very opposite extreme. 

'^^'' If Dean received the congratulations indicated 
the sermon must have been preached some years be- 
fore his appointment as chaplain. His appointment 



334 GEORGE WALLACE JONES 

was in December, 1855, at which time over half of the 
persons mentioned by Jones as congratulating him 
had been dead several years. 

166 James M. Love was in the State Senate of Iowa 
from 1852 to 1854. He became Judge in 1855. — See 
article on Judge James M. Love in the loiva Historical 
Record, Vol. VIII, No. 2, April, 1892, pp. 241-250. 

1*5'^ In recounting the history of these two bills Jones 
has confused them. The bill granting him a pension 
was introduced by Senator Allison on December 14, 
1891, and referred to the Committee on Pensions. It 
was reported favorably from this Committee by Sen- 
ator Turpie on May 20, 1892, and passed the Senate. 
Three days later it passed the House. — Congressional 
Record, 1st Session, 52nd Congress, pp. 44, 4456, 4563. 

The bill for the adjustment of his accounts as Min- 
ister to Bogota was introduced in the House by Repre- 
sentative Henderson of Dubuque, Iowa. In the Sen- 
ate on February 23, 1893, Senator Sherman moved 
that unanimous consent be given to the consideration 
of this House bill and in explaining the bill men- 
tioned the fact that Jones was at that time present in 
the Senate Chamber. — Congressional Record, 2nd 
Session, 52nd Congress, pp. 126, 2041. 



INDEX 



335 



INDEX 



Abolition Party, opposition of Jones 
to, 64 

Abolitionism, attitude of Jones to- 
ward, 61, 62, 127, 188 

Adams, John Quincy, 99, 101, 102; 
friendship of Jones and, 187 ; re- 
ply of, to Benton, 271 

Aid-de-camp, appointment of Jones 
as, 118 

Alabama, 197 

Aldrich, Charles, statement concern- 
ing Jones by, 68 

Alexis (servant), 143 

Alleghany River, 146 

Allen, Beverly, 85, 89 

Allen, William, 131, 262, 266, 267 

Allen, Mr., 289 

Allison, Colonel, sale of land to rail- 
road negotiated by, 210-215 

Allison, William B., 287, 302 

Alta Vista, 276 

Amoureaux, Mr., 90 

Anderson, Alexander D., appoint- 
ment of, as Register, 186 

Andes, crossing of, by Jones, 58 

Andrews, Landafif W., 84 

Anil, Mr., 283 

Anil, Mrs., 283 

Anti-dueling Law, 157 

Antioquia, 231 

Appleton, John, 221, 222 

Arangurin, passport for, 227, 228; 
capture of, 228; intercession for, 
by Jones, 228, 229; reference to, 
231 

Arkansas, 136 

Arkansas, Territory of. Justice of 
Supreme Court of, 80 

Arkansas City, 293 

Ashley, William H., 279 

Ashley, Mrs. William H., 279 

Aspinwall, 223, 226 

Astor House (New York City), 141 

Atchison, David R., 6, 36, 83, 330 

Atchison, John, store kept by, 282 

Atkinson, Henry, 118, 149, 150; 
order to Dodge from, 119, 121, 
148; gratitude of, to Dodge, 150 

Atkinson, Mrs. Henry, 275; second 
marriage of, 276 

Auber, Mr., killing of, by Indians, 
119 

Austin (Illinois), 80 



l-U 



22 



Babcock, Orville E., 288 

Baker, Edward D., objection of, to 
amendment, 190; reference to, 
195, 198, 199, 331 

Baldwin, Henry, 173 

Ball, Mr., murder of, 89 

Baltimore (Maryland), 102, 163, 
177; convention at, 177 

Bancroft, George, 241 

Bank of United States, dealing of 
Webster with, 96, 97, 99; bribe 
to Webb for advocacy of re-char- 
ter of, 158; question of re-char- 
tering, 263 ; veto of bill to re- 
charter, 332 

Barber, J. Allen, 287, 288 

Barger, Mary, birth of, 75; mar- 
riage of, 75 

Barnes, Mr., death of, 146 

Barnes, Mrs., 143 ; marriage of 
Hempstead and, 146 

Barney, Joshua, 281 

Barnum's Hotel (Baltimore), 265 

Barry, William T., 6, 76, 78, 82; 
Jones as ward of, 83 

Barton, Joshua, 170 

Basil (servant), 143 

Bass, John M., 84 

Bates, Edward, 97, 323; cabinet 
position held by, 97 ; defeat of 
Scott by, 101, 102 

Beauvoir (Louisiana), 294, 296 

Bedford Springs (Pennsylvania), 
176 

Belknap, William W., 288 

Bell, John, arraignment of Van 
Buren by, 157; reference to, 158 

Bellevue, 151 

Belmont (Wisconsin), meeting of 
citizens at, 20; contest between 
Mineral Point and, 20 ; meeting 
of legislature at,20; reference to, 
22; interest of Dodge in, 312 

Bennett's Hotel (Galena), 138 

Benton, Thomas Hart, 36, 78, 102, 
129, 131, 160, 178, 262, 266, 
277, 329, 333; county named for, 
101; advice to Jones by, 169, 
170; Jones recommended by, 
175 ; Jones and Dodge greeted 
by, 182, 183 ; reminiscences of, 
by Jones, 270-273 

Bequette, Paschal, 120 

337 



338 



GEORGE WALLACE JONES 



Best, Mrs., boarding house of, 268 

Biddle, Nicholas, 97, 99 

Biddle, Richard, 173 

Bisch, Mr., 90 

Black Hawk, reappearance of, east 
of Mississippi, 10 ; humiliation of, 
11; anger of, at St. Vrain, 118 
efforts to prevent war with, 118 
reference to, 121, 148, 149; de- 
feat of, 150 

Black Hawk War, service of Jones 
in, 11, 148-150; reference to, 68, 
99, 100, 106, 111, 124, 139, 256, 
270, 275, 294, 296, 302; experi- 
ences of Jones during, 115-122 

Bladensburg (Pennsylvania), 263 

Blaine, James G., 227, 260; recol- 
lections of, by Jones, 286-288 

Blair, Francis P., 82, 163, 165, 
238; partner of, 164 

Blair, Francis P., Jr., 238 

Blair, Montgomery, 238 

Bledsoe, Jesse, 76 

Block House, building of, by Jones, 
115 

Blue Lick Springs (Kentucky), 
Charles Jones in school at, 227; 
reference to, 259, 287 

Boat Yard Hollow, 92 

Bodley, Thomas, 7 

Bogota, Jones appointed minister to, 
56, 57, 216; description of, 58; 
service of Jones at, 58-60, 175, 
224-232; removal of Jones as 
Minister to, 60 ; reference to, 65 ; 
journey of Jones to, 209, 223, 
224 ; refusal of Jones to accept 
appointment to, 216-219; accept- 
ance of appointment to, by Jones, 
219, 220; plan of Mosquera to 
capture, 226 ; capture of, by Mos- 
quera, 230; attempt to raise army 
to defend, 231; adjusting of ac- 
counts of Jones as Minister to, 
302, 303 

Bogy, Charles, engagement of Clara 
Hertich to, 132 ; reference to, 
133, 134; marriage of, 285 

Bogv, Joseph, 90, 132, 136 

Bogy, L. v., 90, 132, 149, 271, 
300; recollections of, bv Jones, 
283-285 

Bogv, Mrs. L. v., 283 

Boies, Horace, 289, 293 

Bond, Shadrack, Rice Jones chal- 
lenged to duel by, 79 

Bond, William K., 173 

Ronham (Texas), 285 

Bonito, Charles, 227 

Booth, Caleb H., 100 

Bossier, Carmelite, 93, 142 



Bowlin, James Butler, 219 

Boyd, Linn, 177 

Bracken, Charles, relations between 
Jones and, 125 

Brady, Eliza, marriage of, 143, 144 

Brady, Mary, marriage of, 143, 144 

Brady, Thomas, marriage of, 80, 
81, 251 

Brady, Mrs. Thomas, second mar- 
riage of, 81 

Brecknockshire (Wales), 75 

Brecon (Wales), 75 

Breese, Sidney, 149 

Bright, Jesse "D., 83, 140, 282 

Brown, Aaron V., 188 ; death of, 330 

Brown, Henry H., letter to Jones 
from, 16 

Brown County (Wisconsin), 13 

Brown's Hotel (Washington), 184, 
266 

Brussels, Minister to, 145 

Buchanan, James, 26, 30, 55, 102, 
111, 178, 205, 210, 222, 226, 
275 ; friendliness of, to South, 
51; support of, by Jones, 51; 
Jones appointed Minister by, 56, 
57, 216; county named for, 101; 
Frazer's appointment urged by, 
108, 109 ; Jones recommended by, 
175; friendship between Jones 
and, 176, 177, 187; appointments 
by, 185, 186 : Jones favored for 
Cabinet position by, 188; con- 
versation between Jones and, 202, 
203 ; influence of Jones with, 
206, 207; aid for Illinois Central 
Railroad secured from, 208, 209; 
refusal of Jones to accept ap- 
pointment of, 217-219 

Buffalo, 265 

Bullitt, Alexander, 275 

Bullitt, Lou, recollections of, bv 
Jones, 275, 276 

Bungo, description of, 331, 332 

Burke, John, 245 

Burlington, proposal for railroad 
to, 42 ; reference to, 43, 44, 151, 
184 ; bill for railroad west from, 
48 ; act establishing land office at, 
129; organization of land office 
at, 138; public meeting at, 175; 
Register of Public Monies at, 
176; funeral of Dodge at, 299 

Burlington Daily Telec/raph, 44, 45 

Burnett, Thomas P., 21, 27 

Burnett, Ward B., sword awarded 
to, 187 

Burr, Aaron, 120; duel between 
Hamilton and, 157 

Burton, Allen A., 60 ; Jones suc- 
ceeded by, as Minister, 232 



INDEX 



339 



Butler, Mann, school conducted by, 

5, 82 
Butterworth, A., 152 
Bynum, William, 162, 163, 165, 166 

Calhoun, Anna, assistance to Jones 
by, 128-130 

Calhoun, John C, 99, 101, 277; 
prophecy of, 127, 128; opposition 
of, to establishment of Territory 
of Iowa, 127, 128; act passed in 
absence of, 130 

California Special Committee, 187, 
330 

Calva, Bartholome, 231, 233 

Campbell, Benjamin H., marriage 
of, 80, 143, 144; reference to, 
145 

Campbell, Mrs. B. H., 145 

Campbell, George W., marriage of, 
143, 144 

Campbell, Thompson, speech of, 
against amendment, 43, 190; 
charges made by, 191; contro- 
versy between Jones and, 191; 
reference to, 192; remark by, 331 

Campbell, Mr., 124 

Cape Girardeau (Missouri), 271 

Capulets, 50 

Carthagena, arrival of Jones at, 58; 
reference to, 223, 224, 226, 229, 
232 

Carver, M. M., 151 

Cass, Lewis, county named for, 
101; reference to, 179, 185, 186, 
216, 217, 220, 273; letter from 
Jones to, 219 

Cassville (Wisconsin), eflEorts to lo- 
cate capital at, 17 

Gates, Owen Glendower, 83, 322 

Catholic College, Jones in attend- 
ance at, 5, 82 

Catron, John, statement by, con- 
cerning letter by Jones, 203 

Cavalry, enlistment of Jones in, 6, 
84 

Cayaiga County (New York), 235 

Charlotte (servant), 142 

Cheever, Mr., 107 

Cherubusco, Battle of, 277 

Chicago, 38, 80, 192, 200, 202, 
207; street railway company of, 
145 ; railroad to, 196 

Cilley, Jonathan, duel between 
Graves and, 25, 167-169; death 
of, 25, 169; defense of Van 
Buren by, 157, 158; note from 
Webb to, 158 ; challenge accept- 
ed by, 159; attempt to secure 
Jones as second for, 161, 162; 
promise of Jones to be second 

22* 



for, 162; weapons chosen by, 
163; reference to, 164, 166, 170; 
party of, 165, 166; correspond- 
ence between Graves and, 326, 
327 

Cilley Duel, account of, 157-170; 
effect of, on Jones, 174 

Civil War, 143 

Clark, George Rogers, service of 
Jones under, 4, 76 

Clark, L. H., 212 

Clark, William, 118 

Clarke, James, 33 

Clay, James B., 259 

Clay, John, 259 

Clay, Henry, 6, 40, 76, 78, 82, 158, 
257, 277, 279, 287, 327, 330, 
332 ; Jones as ward of, 83 ; duel 
instigated by, 158, 159, 170; 
challenge written by, 159 ; friend- 
ship of Jones and, 259, 260; 
trip of, to Havana, 278 

Clav, Mrs. Henry, 259 

Clay, Henry, Jr., 259 

Clay, Theodore, fight between Jones 
and, 257, 258; death of, 259 

Clay, Thomas, 258 

Clayton, John M., bill introduced 
by, 18 ; friendship between Jones 
and, 100, 101; county named 
for, 101; reference to, 108, 111, 
129, 130, 222 

Clemson, C. G., 129; marriage of, 
130 

Clerk of Court, appointment of 
Jones as, 7, 33, 91, 112, 113, 
175 

Cobb, Howell, 218, 219, 274 

Coflfman, Miss, 134, 136 

Collamer, Jacob, 54 

Colonel of Militia, election of Jones 
as, 122, 123 

Colt, Samuel, 284 

Committees, service of Jones on, 
37, 186, 187 

Compromise of 1850, attitude of 
Jones toward, 39-41; effect of, 
46 

Confederacy, President of, 6 

Congress, first appearance of Jones 
in, 14; memorial to, 17, 18, 43, 
171; pension granted to Jones 
by, 67, 68; land given to John 
Rice Jones by, 78 

Constitution of Missouri, writer of 
first draft of, 78 

Constitutional Convention of Mis- 
souri, Jones a member of, 78 

Cork (Ireland), 81 

Corkery, Charles, 152, 176, 178, 
179; biography of Jones by, 181 



340 



GEORGE WALLACE JONES 



Cornell, W. W., 151, 152 

Couch, C. F., 289, 290, 292, 293 

Council (Territory of Michigan), 
adjournment of, 16 ; establish- 
ment of Territory of Wisconsin 
favored by, 17 

Council Bluffs, bill for railroad to, 
42 

Cox, Mrs. Henry S., 279 

Crane, George, 210, 213, 214 

Crane, Mrs., 254 

Crarv, Isaac, 30 

Crary, I. E., 125 

Crittenden, John J., 78, 83, 166, 
168, 266, 267, 279, 319; Jones 
recommended by, 175 

Crouch, H. G., letter from Douglas 
to, 195-197 

Crummey's Hotel (Iowa City), 182 

Cuba, return of Davis from, 266 ; 
trip of Jones to, 278-280 

Davenport, George, 121 

Davenport, bill for railroad to Mis- 
souri River from, 37, 41, 42, 48; 
public meeting at, 175 ; reference 
to, 182 

Davis, Jefferson, friendship be 
tween Jones and, 6, 66, 83 ; vis 
its of, with Jones, 9, 88, 89; ref 
erence to, 36, 145, 202, 205, 221 
246, 259, 281, 288, 332; letter 
from Jones to, 61-63, 64, 65 
last visit of Jones to, 67, 293 
296; fall of, into Tiber, 266 
267; death of, 268; money 
loaned to Jones by, 268; story of 
cheating bv, 294, 295 ; funeral 
of, 296, 297 

Davis, Mrs. Jefferson, album of, re- 
stored by Jones, 288-293 ; refer- 
ence to, 294, 296 

Davis, Matthew L., 158 

Davis, Timothy, 152 

Davis, Winnie, 294 

Dawson, Clarence Edward, mar- 
riage of, 301 

Dawson's boarding house, 131, 160, 
266 

Dean, Henry Clay, recollections of, by 
Jones, 276-278; reference to, 333 

Decorah, land office at, 270 

Deery, John, 210, 214 

Delaware, 109 

Delegate to Congress, Jones as, 4 ; 
election of Jones as, 13, 19, 20, 
125, 126; beginning of Jones's 
service as, 14; position of, 18; 
second term of Jones as, 23 ; 
seating of Jones as, 126; Dodge 
as, 138 



Delhi, 269 

Dement, Henry Dodge, 122 

Dement, John, battalion upbraided 
by, 121, 122; marriage of, 122; 
reference to, 149 

Dement, Mrs. John, death of, 122 

Democratic party, failing influence 
of, 48 ; belief of Jones in tri- 
umph of, 51 

Democrats, resolutions by, 39 ; su- 
premacy of, 44 ; nomination of 
Jones by, 46 ; lack of unity 
among, 50, 51; reference to, 53; 
condemnation of Jones by, 61; 
disrepute of, 65 

Deputy Clerk, appointment of Jones 
as, 7 

De Soto House (Galena), 155 

Des Moines, address by Jones at, 68 

Des Moines County, opposition to 
Jones in, 44 

Detroit, constitutional convention at, 
12; Horner at, 15, 16; reference 
to, 124, 126; Sheldon at, 273 

Dickinson, Daniel S., pistol taken 
from Foote by, 273 ; reference to, 
277 

District of Columbia, bill prohibit- 
ing dueling in, 26 

Dixon (Illinois), 122 

Dodge, Augustus Caesar, 21, 22, 
48, 49, 52, 100, 178, 197, 199, 
201, 204, 262, 266, 268, 323; 
candidacy of, for Senator, 34; 
election of, as Senator, 35, 182 : 
efforts of, to secure railroad 
grants, 37, 41-43; bill introduced 
by, 46. 47 ; vote of, for Kansas- 
Nebraska bill, 47 ; successor to, 
in Senate, 48 ; appointment of, 
as Minister, 56, 139-141; visit of, 
to Washington, 131; elopement 
of Clara Hertich and, 131-137; 
visit of Jones with, 138; ap- 
pointment of, as Register, 138, 
175, 176; offices held by, 138, 
139 ; character of early life of, 139 ; 
objection of Possums to, 179; 
first appearance of, in Senate, 
182, 183; term drawn by, 183; 
reelection of, 183 ; commendation 
of, by Polk, 183; journey of, to 
Washington, 184; rooms shared 
by Jones and, 184, 185 ; appoint- 
ment urged by, 186; democracy 
of, 281, 282; death of, 299-301; 
vote of, on compromise measures, 
317 

Dodge, Celina, marriage of, 262 

Dodge, Charles Jones, 138, 299 

Dodge, Henry, 9, 10, 21, 30, 36, 



INDEX 



341 



68, 89, 100, 110, 111, 113, 114, 
116, 127, 184, 201, 281, 302; 
appointment of, as Major, 11, 
324; Jones appointed aid-de- 
camp to, 11, 118, 119, 148; ap- 
pointment of, as Governor, 19, 
106, 175; defeat of Indians bv, 
120; order of, to Campbell, 120; 
vote of Posey's brigade against, 
121; marriage of daughter of, 
122 ; Jones as successor to, 122, 
123 ; operations of, in Black 
Hawk War, 149, 150; gratitude 
of Atkinson to, 150; Jones rec- 
ommended by, 175 ; mention of, 
as candidate for President, 177, 
178 ; appointment of, as Colonel 
of Dragoons, 309; charge against, 
312 
Dodge, Henry L., 118, 123, 148; 
appointment of, as Indian agent, 
176 
Dodge, Lucy, 246 
Dodge, Mary, marriage of, 122 
Dodgeville (Wisconsin), 131, 138, 

148, 175. 262, 282 
Donaghoe, Father, 223 
Donelson, Andrew Jackson, 104, 

105 
Donelson, Miss Emilv, 103 
Donnan, W. G., 286, 288 
Dorr, J. B., interview of Douglas 
and, 199; defense of Douglas by, 
200, 201 
Doty, James D., nomination of, for 
Delegate, 13 ; efforts of, to se- 
cure capital for Madison, 21; 
letter to Jones from, 22 ; refer- 
ence to, 26, 27, 31, 273: election 
of, as Delegate, 27; beginning of 
service of, as Delegate, 29; seat 
in Congress given to, 30 ; can- 
didacy of, for Delegate, 125 ; re- 
moval of, by Jackson. 125 ; of- 
fices held by, 126, 127; contest 
between Jones and, in Congress, 
172 
Douglas, Stephen A., controversy 
between Jones and, 38, 43, 44, 
55, 56; Kansas-Nebraska bill of, 
47 ; opposition of, to Lecompton 
Constitution, 51, 54; reference 
to, 54, 61, 62, 187, 190, 191, 
204, 205, 206, 318: campaign 
between Lincoln and, 55, 192 ; 
amendment to railroad bill fa- 
vored by, 189 ; statement bv, 
192; letter of, 192, 193, 194, 
195, 196, 197; defense of, 193- 
195, 200, 201; reply of Jones to, 
197-202, 203 



Dowling, Nicholas, 261 
Downs, Solomon W., 83 
Drummer boy, service of Jones as, 
5 ; pension for service of Jones 
as, 68, 301, 302 
Du Bourg, Bishop, 5, 82 
Dubuque, life of Jones at, 3, 32 ; 
meeting of citizens of, 13, 26, 
175; ferry owned by Jones at, 
31, 315; land office at, 32, 114, 
129 ; removal of Jones to, 33 ; 
bill for railroad to Keokuk from, 
36, 37, 41, 42; terminus of rail- 
road at, 38, 43, 55; proposal for 
railroad from Des Moines to, 
42 ; opposition to Jones in, 44, 
45 ; bill for railroad west from, 
48; controversy at, 50; reference 
to, 57, 60, 81, 92, 143, 151, 171, 
174, 182, 184, 190, 191, 193. 
194, 197, 204, 206, 209, 223, 
238, 252, 254, 274, 296, 328, 
331; welcome to Jones by citi- 
zens of, 64 ; retirement of Jones 
at, 67-71 ; resolution of citizens 
of, in praise of Jones, 69, 70; 
death of Jones at, 71 ; first ferry 
to, 95 : lead mines at, 96 ; land 
matters at, 151-156; trial of 
O'Conner at, 155; petition of cit- 
izens of, 172 : Register of Land 
Office at, 186; amendment ex- 
tending railroad to, 189, 195, 
196; proposed railroad to Sioux 
City from, 189; visit of Douglas 
to, 199 ; debt of, to Douglas, 200 ; 
method of travel from east to, 
207; building of railroad to, 209: 
return of Jones to, 219; first 
Cathedral in, 262; ice harbor at, 
280, 281; Jones sent as delegate 
from, 286: debt of, to Jones, 298 
Dubuque Herald, 44, 45 
Duel, Jones as second in, 24-26 
Dueling, bill prohibiting, 26, 325, 

326 
Duncan, Alexander, 162, 163, 164, 

165, 166 
Dunham's Female Seminary, 275 
Dunlap, Dr., Rice Jones shot by, 

79; escape of, 80 
Dunleith (Illinois), 64, 210, 212; 
celebration of completion of rail- 
road to, 199; sale of land owned 
by Jones at, 211-215 
Dunn, Charles, Jones appointed 
Clerk by, 32, 33, 112, 113; ap- 
pointment of, as Judge, 111; 
marriage of. 111; drunkenness 
of. 111, 112; reference to, 147 
Dyer, J. J., death of, 280 



342 



GEORGE WALLACE JONES 



Eagle Point, 171 

East Dubuque, 95, 210, 254 

Bast St. Louis, 283 

Eaton, A. K., reminiscences of, by 

Jones, 269, 270 
Eaton, William L., 270 
Edwards, Ninian, 6, 82 
Ellis, Albert G., resignation of, 114, 

115 
England, education of John Rice 

Jones in, 4, 75 
Enrolled Bills, Committee on, 187 
Europe, 8 

Fairfield, 190 

Fanning, James, 152 

Panning, Timothy, ferry operated 
by, 315 

Farley, J. P., 214 

Farley, Detective, 243 

Fassitt, Thomas C, 152 

Fayal (Azore Islands), 280 

Felch, Alpheus, 184 

Fenner, Charles C, 268, 296 

Ferry, operation of, by Jones, 31, 
95; leasing of, by Jones, 32; pe- 
tition of Jones relative to, 238 

Fever River, migration of Jones to, 
7, 86 ; Jones advised to go to, 
85 ; reference to, 87, 92, 189 

Fillmore, Millard, choice of member 
of cabinet of, 97; reference to, 
99, 100 ; reorganization of Cab- 
inet of, 323 

Finley, W. H., 219 

Fisher, Myers, 76 

Fitzpatrick, Benjamin, 54 

Fletcher, Jonathan E., candidacy 
of, for Senator, 181, 182 

Florida, pairing of, with Iowa, 53 ; 
reference to, 104 

Foltz, Jonathan M., 166 

Foote, Henry S., arraignment of 
Seward by, 271, 272; attack on 
Benton by, 272, 273; reference 
to, 333 

Forrest, Edwin, friendship of Jones 
and, 257 

Forsyth, John, 107, 163, 165 

Fort Crawford, Davis stationed at, 
9, 89; reference to, 88, 150, 295 

Fort Des Moines, proposal for rail- 
roads from, 42 ; reference to, 43, 
44 

Fort Dixon, 115 

Fort Dodge Sentinel, article from, 
192-202 

Fort Hamilton, 244 

Fort Lafayette, imprisonment of 
Jones at, 60, 245 ; release of 
Jones from, 63, 245, 246; return 



of prisoners from, 209; reference 

to, 243, 244 
Fort Madison, 151; public meeting 

at, 175 
Fort Sumter, firing on, 61 
Port Union, 119 
Port Winnebago, Dodge ordered to 

return to, 149 ; reference to, 150, 

295 
Fortress Monroe, 291 
Pox Indians, trading of Jones with, 

95; Sac and, agent of, 115 
Prance, desire of Jones to go to, 

218 
Frankfort (Kentucky), 82 
Franklin, Benjamin, 76 
Frazer, William C, appointment of, 

as Judge, 108-110; drunkenness 

of, 110, 111 
Free Soil party, 47 
Fremont, John C, 273 
Frontier, neglect of, 18 ; acquaint- 
ance of Jones with, 32 
Fugitive Slave Law, 65 
Puller, Melville W., 299 

Galena (Illinois), rush to vicinity 
of, 8; reference to, 10, 43, 86 
88, 89, 92, 118, 124, 137, 138 
139, 143, 144, 145, 146, 190 
191, 194, 195, 197, 198, 200, 204 
213, 254, 261, 331; railroad to 
38, 196; disappointment of, 38 
resentment of people of, 55 ; mur 
der of St. Vrain near, 115; mur 
der of Smith at, 155 ; amendment 
to bill for railroad to, 189, 190 
sacrifice of interests of, 193 ; at 
tempt of Douglas to satisfy peo 
pie of, 201; celebration at, 209 
journey of Dodge to, 282; Lang- 
worthy s near, 308, 309 

Galena Courier, 55 ; editorial and 
letter from, 192-197 

Galena Packet Company, officers of, 
145 

Garnick, Mr., 212 

Gelston, Mrs. George A., provisions 
sent to Jones by, 245 ; call of 
Jones upon, 246 

General Assembly (Iowa), celebra- 
tion of birthday of Jones by, 68 
70 

Georgia (warship), 278, 279 

Geyer, Henry S., 97 

Giddings, Joshua R., 31, 172 

Gilbert's boarding house (Washing- 
ton), 184 

Gorman, Arthur P., 302 

Gouri, Baron, 232 

Grafton, Joseph D., 89, 90 



INDEX 



343 



Grant, James, 45 ; candidacy of, for 
Senator, 180, 181, 182 

Grant, Ulysses S., 284, 288 

Grant County (Wisconsin), 86; 
memorial from citizens of, 171 

Gratiot, Charles, 264 

Gratiot, Henry, 264; grave of, 265 

Gratiot, Mrs. Henry, 264 

Gratiot's Grove, 264, 265 

Graves, Mr., 298 

Graves, William J., duel between 
Cilley and, 25, 167-169; petitions 
for expulsion of, 25; note carried 
to Cilley by, 158; challenge to 
Cilley from, 159; reference to, 
161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 170; 
party of, 166 ; correspondence 
between Cilley and, 326, 827 

Green, James S., 54, 237 

Green Bay (Wisconsin), 13, 17, 
125, 148, 287; meeting of legis- 
lature at, 15, 16 

Gregoire, Mr., 213 

Gregoire, Charles, Sr., 90 ; conver- 
sation of, with Jones, 94 

Gregoire, Charles, Jr., 90, 281; ball 
given by, 142 

Gregoire, Mrs. C. H., 142 

Gregoire, Eulalie, 142 

Gregoire, Josephine, marriage of 
Jones and, 9, 88, 95, 142; ref- 
erence to, 86, 92 ; proposal of 
Jones to, 93, 94 

GrifBth, Mr., 232 

Griffith, Isaac W., ^77, 278 

Grimes, James W., election of, as 
Governor, 47 ; election of, as Sen- 
ator, 52 

Grundy, Felix, 84, 99, 277 

Guest's Boarding House (Washing- 
ton), 159 

Guignon, Mrs., 142 

Gwin, William M., 242, 243 

Gwin, Mrs. William M., 242, 243 

Half Breed Tract, 179 

Hall, the Misses, capture of, by In- 
dians, 116 

Hamilton, Alexander, son of, 120, 
122; duel between Burr and, 15'7 

Hamilton, William S., 21, 122; res- 
idence of, 119, 120; order of 
Dodge to, 120 

Hannegan, Edward A., 83, 131 

Harden, Lord, 141 

Harlan, James, election of, as Sen- 
ator, 48; reference to, 323 

Harney, William S., 261; recollec- 
tions of, by Jones, 283, 284; 
visit of Jones with, 293-295 

Harris, Thomas L., 198, 206 



Harrison, Benjamin, 77 

Harrison, William Henry, removal 
of Jones by, 32 ; recollection of, 
76; reference to, 321 

Havana (Cuba), trip of Jones to, 
278-280, 332 

Haws, J. H. Hobart, 266 

Haycock, George B., 279 

Hempstead, Charles S., 123, 124; 
marriage of Mrs. Barnes and, 
146 

Hempstead, Stephen, 45 ; candidacy 
of, for Senator, 180, 181, 182 

Hempstead, William, 146 

Hempstead, William, 147 

Henderson, David B., 334 

Henn, Bernhart, 43, 190 ; appoint- 
ment urged by, 186 

Hennessy, Archbishop, contribution 
by, to fund, 298 

Henry (servant), 143 

Henry, Gustavus A., 83 

Henry, James D., 149 

Hermitage, 84 

Herran, Archbishop, 223 

Herran, Pedro A., 223, 244 

Herran, General, 229; removal of 
Jones to home of, 230; defeat of, 
230 

Herran, Mrs., 228, 230. 

Hertich, Charles, 133, 300 

Hertich, Clara, elopement of Dodge 
and, 131-137; visit of Jones 
with, 138; reference to, 300 

Hertich, Joseph, Sr., 132, 133, 134, 
136, 137; school taught by, 300 

Hertich, Mrs. Joseph, 132, 133, 
134, 136, 137 

Hertich, Joseph, Jr., 133, 134, 137, 
300 

Hertich, Vilar, 300 

Hewitt, Mr., 214 

Higgenbotham, Alexander, 117 

Hodgdon, General, 211 

Holley, Horace, 85 

Holt, Joseph, 330 

Homestead, fund to release, 297-299 

Honda, arrival of Jones at, 58; 
reference to, 224, 226 

Horner, John S., appointment of, 
as Secretary, 14 ; inefficiency of, 
14 ; failure of, to reach Green 
Bay, 15, 16; letter from Lyon 
to, 15; arraignment of, 16; let- 
ter to Jones from, 16, 17; failure 
of Jackson to remove, 17; refer- 
ence to, 310 

Horr, Asa, 219 

Horse Shoe Bend (Wisconsin), 124 

Hotel Keil (Ste. Genevieve), 142 

Houston, Sam, 81 



344 



GEORGE WALLACE JONES 



Howe, Timothy Otis, amendment 
offered by, 287 

Hughes, Mr., 135 

Hughes, John, 223 

Hulsemann, Chevalier, 241 

Huner, Jacob, 178 

Hutchins, Stilson, 283; recollec- 
tions of, by Jones, 284, 285 

Hunter, William, jealousy of, 221, 
222 

Illinois, 6, 111, 118, 126, 189, 193, 
206; origin of nickname of, 8; 
United States Marshal for, 143; 
efforts of Jones in behalf of rail- 
road in, 208 

Illinois, Territory of, removal of 
Jones to, 4 ; slaves in, 66 ; estab- 
lishment of, 77 

Illinois and Michigan Canal, 196 

Illinois Central Railroad, bill for 
grant to, 38; amendment to bill 
for, 55; Douglas and, 189-205; 
celebration of completion of, 199 ; 
experiences of Jones with, 206- 
215; land sold to, by Jones, 210- 
215 

Illinois Land Bill, 43 

Illinois Militia, Posey's brigade of, 
119 

Illinois Volunteers, 148, 150 

Independence (Iowa), 289 

Indiana, 40, 126 

Indiana Territory, birth of Jones 
in, 3, 65, 75 ; prominence of John 
Rice Jones in, 4; slaves in, 66; 
Governor of, 76; division of, 77 

Indians, mining by, 8 ; disturbances 
caused by, 10 ; plan to subdue, 
76 ; service of John Rice Jones 
in wars against, 78 ; massacre 
by, 115-118; killing of Auber bv, 
119; defeat of, by Dodge, 120; 
reference to, 148, 149 

Iowa, Jones as Senator from, 4; 
Jones as Surveyor General for, 
31; removal of Jones to, 33; ad- 
mission of, 34; election of Sena- 
tors in, 34, 35, 44-46; bills for 
railroad grants in, 36, 37, 38, 
41-43, 190; resolution from, 39; 
attitude of people of, toward 
slavery, 41; change in politics of, 
47, 67, 127, 128; beginning of 
Republican party in, 48 ; efforts 
to secure railroad grants for, 48, 
49 ; opposition to Lecompton Con- 
stitution in, 52, 53 ; pairing of, 
with Florida, 53 ; condemnation 
of Jones in, 61. 64, 65; first fer- 
ry to, 95; reference to, 98, 118, 



206, 216, 324; federal appoint- 
ments in, 100, 101, 130, 131, 
185, 186; proposed railroad in, 
189; debt of, to Douglas, 200 

Iowa, Territory of, settlement of 
Jones in, 31; establishment of, 
secured by Jones, 23, 24; objec- 
tions to establishment of, 24; ap- 
pointment of Governor of, 26; 
bill for establishment of, 127; 
opposition of Calhoun to estab- 
lishment of, 127, 128; establish- 
ment of, 130, 155, 156, 174; 
recommendations of Jones for 
Governor of, 172, 174, 175; 
United States Attorney for, 179 

Iowa City, Jones at, 178, 181, 182; 
reference to, 184, 269 

Iowa County (Wisconsin Terri- 
tory), appointment of Jones as 
Chief Justice in, 11; election of 
Jones as colonel of militia of, 11, 
122, 123 ; meeting of citizens of, 
13, 20; fight between towns in, 20 

Iowa Land Bill, efforts to secure 
adoption of, 41-43 ; reference to, 
44 

Irwin, David, nomination of, for 
Delegate, 13 ; reference to, 107, 
125, 155 

Jackson, Andrew, escort of, by 
Jones, 6, 84; reference to, 16, 
17, 76, 102, 130, 131, 150, 218; 
Dodge appointed Governor by, 
19; county named for, 101; in- 
troduction of Jones to, 102, 103; 
appointments by, for Territory of 
Wisconsin, 104-111, 125; friend- 
ship of Jones and, 187; sword 
awarded by, 187; reminiscences 
of, by Jones, 262, 263 

Jackson, Mrs. Andrew, 103 

Jackson. Frank D., special message 
of. 68, 69 

Jackson, Thomas Jonathan, 291 

Jackson, Mr., complaint of, 152 

James, Judge, 133, 134 

Jamison, Mr., 289 

Janesville (Wisconsin), 264 

Janis, Mrs., 142 

Jenkins, J. Doran, 134, 137, 270, 
300 

Jennings. Thomas Jefferson, 84 

Jo Daviess District, 190 

Johnson, Mr., 154, 155 

Johnson, Mr., return of, from Fort 
Lafayette, 209 

Johnson, E. W., 45 

Johnson, James, mining operations 
of, 8 



INDEX 



345 



Johnson, Richard M., 78, 79 

Johnstone, Edward, 179 ; candidacy 
of, for Senator, 182 

Jones, Augustus, 75, 119, 252; re- 
moval of, to Texas, 81 

Jones, Charles, 58, 209, 259, 287; 
journey of, to Bogota, 223, 224; 
study of Spanish language by, 
225 ; return of, to United States, 
226, 227; ability of, 227; sick- 
ness of, 227 

Jones, Eliza, 75 ; marriage of, 80 

Jones, George, 295 

Jones, George Wallace, outline of 
life of, 3 ; removal of, to Mis- 
souri, 3 ; removal of, to Michigan, 
3 ; removal of, to Iowa, 3 ; places 
of residence of, 3, 4; occupations 
of, 4 ; father of, 4 ; early educa- 
tion of, 5, 82 ; service of, as 
drummer boy, 5 ; movements of, 
in Missouri, 5 ; education of, at 
Transylvania University, 5-7; pa- 
trons of, 6, 83 ; fellow students 
of, 6, 83 ; enlistment of, in cav- 
alry, 6, 84; Jackson escorted by, 
6, 84 ; Lafayette escorted by, 6, 
84; love affairs of, 6, 7; gradua- 
tion of, from university, 7, 84, 
85 ; return of, to Ste. Genevieve, 7, 
8, 92 ; legal position held by, 7 ; 
poor health of, 7, 85 ; migration 
of, to Fever River, 7 ; location of, 
in Wisconsin, 8 ; mining opera- 
tions of, 9, 87, 88 ; visits of 
Davis with, 9, 88, 89 ; marriage 
of, 9, 88, 95, 142; return of, to 
lead mines, 9, 10 ; service of, in 
Black Hawk War, 10, 11; elec- 
tion of, as colonel of militia, 11, 
122, 123 ; appointment of, as 
Justice, 11, 123, 124; interest of, 
in politics, 11; office deserved by, 
12 ; nomination of, for Delegate, 
13, 20, 125 ; first appearance of, 
in Congress, 14; slowness in re- 
turn of votes for, 15 ; certificate 
of election of, 16; letter from 
Horner to, 16 ; efforts of, to se- 
cure establishment of Territory of 
Wisconsin, 17, 18; legislative ac- 
tivities of, 19; character of ser- 
vice of, as Delegate, 19 ; election 
of, as Delegate, 20, 125, 126; 
land on site of Madison owned 
by, 21, 22; letter from Doty to, 
22 ; interest of, in railroads, 23 ; 
establishment of Territory of Iowa 
secured by, 23, 24; Graves-Cilley 
duel seconded by, 25 ; petitions 
for expulsion of, 25 ; recommen- 



dation of, for Governor, 26, 174, 
175; candidacy of, for Delegate, 
26, 27; defeat of, by Doty, 27; 
efforts of, to retain seat as Dele- 
gate, 27-31, 172; question of 
compensation of, as Delegate, 31, 
172, 173 ; return of, to Sinsin- 
awa Mound, 31, 142, 143; ferry 
owned by, 31, 315; service of, as 
Surveyor General, 31, 32, 33; 
appointment of, as Clerk, 33, 91, 
112, 113; removal of, to Du- 
buque, 33 ; candidacy of, for Sen- 
ator, 34, 46, 178-182; election of, 
as Senator, 35, 181, 182; de- 
scription of, 36; appearance of, 
in Senate, 36; efforts of, in sup- 
port of railroads, 36, 37, 38, 41- 
43, 48, 49 ; committee service of, 
37, 186, 187; attitude of, toward 
compromise measures, 39-41; con- 
troversy between Douglas and, 
43, 44, 55, 56 ; contest of, for re- 
election to Senate, 44-46, 49, 50; 
unpleasant relations between 
Morgan and, 44 ; life and ser- 
vices of, 45 ; absence of, from 
Washington, 46 ; second election 
of, as Senator, 46; reference to, 
46, 75, 81, 310; vote of, for 
Kansas-Nebraska bill, 47 ; grati- 
tude of constituents of, 49 ; end 
of Senatorial term of, 49 ; di- 
vision among Democrats, relative 
to, 50; support of Buchanan by, 
51; defeat of, for nomination for 
Senator, 52 ; successor to, in 
Senate, 52 ; support of Lecomp- 
ton Constitution by, 52-54; fail- 
ure of, to obey instructions, 53, 
54 ; last session of, as Senator, 
56; appointment of, as Minister 
to Bogota, 56, 57, 216, 217; ser- 
vice of, as Minister to Bogota, 
58-60: successor to, as Minister, 
60, 232 ; sons of, in Confederate 
armies, 60 ; arrest and imprison- 
ment of, 60, 242-245; reason for 
arrest of, 60, 61 ; letter to Davis 
from, 61-63, 64, 65; letter to 
Morse from, 61, 63 ; release of, 
from prison, 63, 245; condemna- 
tion of, in Iowa, 64, 65 ; reasons 
for sjinpathy of, with South, 65- 
67; years of retirement of, 67- 
71; pension granted to, 67, 68, 
301-303; celebration of ninetieth 
birthday of, 68-70; character of 
last years of, 70 ; recollections of, 
70, 71; death of, 71; birth of, 
75 ; removal of, to Kaskaskia, 



346 



GEORGE WALLACE JONES 



81; removal of, to Ste. Gene- 
vieve, 81, 82; entrance of, into 
Transylvania University, 82 ; law 
practice of, 85 ; advice to, by 
Linn, 85, 86; log cabin built by, 
86, 87; service of, as deputy 
clerk, 89 ; letter from Peck to, 
90, 91; shipment of lead to St. 
Louis by, 91, 92; proposal of, to 
Josephine Gregoire, 93, 94 ; lead 
purchased from Indians by, 95 ; 
land given to Jordan by, 96 ; 
land speculations of Webster and, 
96-99 ; member of cabinet sug- 
gested by, 97; debt of Webster to, 
98 ; relations between Taylor and, 
100; friendship between Clayton 
and, 100, 101; counties named 
at suggestion of, 101; journey of, 
to Washington, 102, 184; intro- 
duction of, to Jackson, 102, 103; 
service of, as grand juror, 112; 
reappointment of, as Surveyor 
General, 113, 114; block house 
built by, 115; account of murder 
of St. Vrain told by, 115-118; 
appointment of, as aid to Dodge, 
118, 119; seating of, as Delegate, 
126; country represented by, 
126 ; assistance given by Miss 
Calhoun to, 128-130; citing of, 
as security, 135 ; visit of, with 
Dodge, 138; appointments of 
Dodge secured by, 138-140; house 
built by, 143 ; claim taken by, at 
Sinsinawa Mound, 145 ; removal 
of, from Sinsinawa Mound, 147; 
land grants secured by, 151; 
mob quieted by, 153, 154 ; peti- 
tion of O'Conner to, 155; secur- 
ing of, as second for Cilley, 160- 
162 ; arrangements for Cilley 
duel made by, 162-167; service of, 
as second in duel, 167-169; state- 
ment concerning Cilley duel by, 
169, 170; appropriation for sur- 
vey of railroad secured by, 171; 
oflSces held by, 175; appointments 
secured by, 175, 176, 185, 186; 
friendship between Buchanan 
and, 176, 177; conversation be- 
tween Wilson and, 180, 181; 
first appearance of, in Senate, 
182, 183 ; term drawn by, 183 ; 
<:ommendation of, by Polk, 183 ; 
rooms shared by Dodge and, 184, 
185 ; friendship of, with Presi- 
dents, 187; mention of, for Cab- 
inet position, 188; controversy 
between Campbell and, 191; let- 
ter to Douglas from, 192 ; charges 



against, 193-196 ; reply of, to 
Douglas, 197-202 ; conversation 
between Buchanan and, 202, 
203 ; comment on reply of, to 
Douglas, 203 ; letter from Shields 
to, 203, 204; letter from Wilson 
to, 204, 205; interview of Os- 
borne with, 206, 207; aid for Il- 
linois Central Railroad secured 
by, 208, 209; use of pass by, 
209, 210; pass taken from, 210; 
sale of land to railroad company 
by, 210-215; refusal of, to ac- 
cept appointment, 217-219; ac- 
ceptance of appointment by, 219, 
220; instructions to, as Minister, 
220-222; journey of, to Bogota, 
223, 224; baptism of, 223; ex- 
periences of, in Bogota, 224-232 ; 
oath administered to, 232, 233 ; 
return of, from Bogota, 233 ; 
compliments to, by Seward, 233 ; 
greeting of, by Seward, 235 ; in- 
troduction of, to Lincoln, 236; 
conversation of, with Lincoln, 
236-241; dinner given to, by 
Seward, 237, 238; visit of, with 
Mrs. Lincoln, 241; visit of, with 
Seward, 241, 242 ; order for ar- 
rest of, 244 ; provisions sent to, 
in prison, 245 ; suit of, against 
Seward, 246, 247; first mining 
effort of, 251, 252; lead mine 
purchased by, 252, 255 ; ball at- 
tended by, 254, 255 ; friendship 
of Lewis and, 256; friendship of 
Forrest and, 257; fight between 
Theodore Clay and, 257, 258; 
friendship of Clay and, 259, 260; 
dress of, 260, 261; banquet ten- 
dered to, at Milwaukee, 264, 265; 
money loaned by Davis to, 268; 
conversation of, with Benton, 
271; concert by Jenny Lind at- 
tended by, 274; visit of Dean 
with, 276; children named for, 
277; trip of, to Havana, 278- 
280; visit of, in St. Louis, 283, 
284; meeting of Blaine by, 286, 
287; album of Mrs. Davis re- 
stored by, 288-293 ; last visit of, 
with Davis, 293, 296; fund to 
release homestead of, 297-299; 
funeral of Dodge attended by, 
299; duel between Williams and, 
313 
Jones, Mrs. George W., return of, 
to Ste. Genevieve, 10, 115; ar- 
rival of, at Sinsinawa Mound, 
143 (see also Josephine Gre- 
goire ) 



INDEX 



347 



Jones, Harriet, 75 ; marriage of, 
80, 81, 251 

Jones, James K., 302 

Jones, J. Russell, marriage of, 80 ; 
career of, 144, 145 

Jones, John, 75, 119, 252; career 
of, in Texas, 81 

Jones, John Rice, early history of, 
4 ; efforts of, to secure introduc- 
tion of slavery, 4, 66 ; removal of, 
to Kaskaskia, 4 : removal of, to 
Ste. Genevieve, 4 ; movements of, 
in Missouri, 5 ; political activities 
of, 5, 78 ; birth of, 75 ; children 
of, 75 ; education of, 75 ; immi- 
gration of, to America, 75 ; 
friends of, 76 ; westward migra- 
tion of, 76; service of, in Clark's 
army, 76; bond drawn by, 77; 
removal of, to Missouri, 77; 
death of, 77; reference to. 80, 
111, 239, 301, 321, 329; dress 
of, 261; land granted to, 322 

Jones, Katherine Stribling, mar- 
riage of, 301 

Jones, Maria, 75, 220 

Jones, Myers Fisher, 75, 252 ; re- 
moval of, to Texas, 81 

Jones, Nancy, 75 

Jones, Rice. 75 ; education of, 78 ; 
friends of, 78; character of, 79; 
death of, 79 

Jones, William, 259, 287 

Jones, William Ashley, biography of 
Jones by, 181 

Jones, William Powell, 75 

Jones Hotel (Philadelphia), 187, 
253 

Jordon, Thomas, land given by 
Jones to, 96 ; ferrv operated bv, 
96 

Jordan's ferry, 254 

Jules (servant), 142 

Julien House (Dubuque), 130 

Kansas, interest in affairs in, 50 : 
struggle in, 50, 51; question of 
admission of, 52, 53, 54; refer- 
ence to, 53 ; grant of land to, 54 

Kansas, Territory of, bill for or- 
ganization of, 47 

Kansas-Nebraska bill, opposition to, 
47 ; sequel to, 50 ; reference to, 
199 

Karrick, Frank, 253 

Karrick, George O., 252 ; lead 
hauled by, 253 ; meeting of Jones 
with, in Philadelphia, 258 ; ap- 
pointment of, as clerk, 255 ; lead 
mine purchased at suggestion of. 
255; burial place of, 256 



Karrick, Mrs. George O., 254 

Karrick, Henrietta, 254; marriage 
of. 256 

Karrick, Joseph, 253 

Karrick Lode. 252 

Kaskaskia (Illinois), removal of 
Jones to. 4. 81; reference to, 76, 
142 : Rice Jones at, 79 ; elope- 
ment of Dodge to, 133-135, 137, 
300 

Keene's Phoenix Hotel (Lexington), 
102 

Kemble. Gouverueur, 217, 220 

Kennedy, John Alexander, 242, 243, 
244 

Kenrick. Francis Patrick, 223 

Kentucky, education of Jones in, 4, 
197: escort of Jackson through, 
6. 84, 102 

Keokuk, bill for railroad from Du- 
buque to, 36, 37, 41, 42; pro- 
posal to omit railroad to, 42; ref- 
erence to, 43, 48. 280, 319; dis- 
appointment of people of, 49 ; 
public meeting at, 175; post- 
master at, 185 

Kiel. Mr.. 90 

Kimmel. Allen. 142 

Kimmel. A. W., 132 

King, John. 178, 179 

King. William R.. 102, 177, 275 

King's Boarding House (Washing- 
ton), 164 

Kinnev. J. F.. candidacy of, for 
Senator, 181, 182 

Kirkwood House (Washington), 
216 

Lafayette, Marquis de, escort of, by 

Jones. 6. 84 
Lafayette County (Kentucky), 103 
Lake Koshkonong, Indian camp 

near. 117 
Lake Michigan, project for railroad 

to Mississippi River from, 23 ; 

reference to, 126 
Lancaster (Pennsylvania), 109,218 
Land, speculation of Jones in, 22, 28 
Land grants, bill for, 151 
Land office, protest against removal 

of. 32 : threat to destroy, 153 
Land offices, creation of, 11, 129 
Lane, Harriet. 222 
Langworthy. Dr.. 255 
Langworthv, Edward, contribution 

to fund by, 297. 298 
Langworthy, Lucius H., candidacy 

of, for Senator, 181; reference 

to. 325 
Langworthv brothers, sketches of 

lives of. "308. 309 



348 



GEORGE WALLACE JONES 



Lattimer, Mr., 113 

Law, study of, by Jones, 7 

Lawless, Luke E., 170 

Lead, shipping of, to St. Louis, 91, 
92 ; purchase of, by Jones, 95 

Lead mines, migration of Jones to, 
7, 86; rush of settlers to, 8, 9; 
return of Jones to, 9, 10 ; dan- 
gers in region of, 10; United 
States agent at, 145 ; reference 
to, 282 

Lead mining, first effort of Jones 
at, 252 

Lecompton Constitution, controver- 
sy over, 50, 51; opposition to, in 
Iowa, 52, 53 ; support of, by 
Jones, 52-54; reference to, 54, 
55 ; opposition of Douglas to, 54 

Le Claire, Odile, 142 

Lee, Robert E., county named for, 
101; reference to, 291 

Lee County, 277 

Letcher, Robert P., 160 

Lexington (Kentucky), Jones in 
school at, 5 ; journey to, 6, 82 ; 
reference to, 66, 83, 84, 88, 102, 
240, 241, 257, 259, 275, 332; 
Rice Jones in school at, 78 

Lexington County (Kentucky), 103 

Lewis, Warner, 174, 176, 276; rec- 
ollections of, 256, 257 

Lewis, Mrs. Warner, 295 

Lincoln, Abraham, campaign be- 
tween Douglas and, 55, 192; ref- 
erence to, 60, 61, 97, 143, 246, 
280; meeting of Jones with, 235- 
241; greeting of soldiers by, 236; 
anecdote by, 240, 241 

Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham, 237; visit 
of Jones with, 241 

Lind, Jennv, recollections of, by 
Jones, 274, 275 

Linn, Lewis P., 5, 26, 82, 89, 90, 
92, 93, 102, 108, 110, 115, 128, 
131, 160, 172, 177, 262, 266, 
267, 301, 308, 322; advice to 
Jones by, 7, 85, 86 ; friendship 
of Jones and, 66 ; county named 
for, 101; Jones recommended by, 
175 

Linn, Mrs. Lewis F., 92 

Linn, William, 5, 302; Jones as 
drummer in company of, 82 

Linn, Mrs. William, 122 

Little Rock (Arkansas), 80 

London (England), 75 

Long, Colonel, harbor inspected by, 
280, 281 

Louisiana, 136 

Louisville (Kentucky), John Rice 
Jones at, 76 



Love, James M., recollections of, by 

Jones, 280 
Lower Harbor Improvement Com- 
pany, 281 
Lowry, Father, 299, 300 
Lucas, Charles, duel of Benton 

with, 170 
Lucas, Robert, appointment of, as 

Governor, 26 
Luke, Mrs., 283 
Lyon, Lucius, 12, 14, 16, 113, 125, 

275;L4etter to Jones, from, 15; 

letters written by, 310 
Lyons (Iowa), bill for railroad west 

from, 48 

McArthur, Duncan, 267 

McArthur, Mrs. John, 89; hotel 
kept by, 110 

McCarty, Jonathan, 329 

McCloskey, John, 223 

McCraney, Thomas, ferry leased by, 
32 

McDougall, James A., anecdote of, 
240, 241 

McGregor, 80, 211 

McHenry, George, appointment of, 
as Register, 186 

McKeon, John, 141, 246 

Mackie, James S., instructions giv- 
en to Jones by, 220-222 ; refer- 
ence to, 235 

McKnight, Sheldon, 273 

McKnight, Thomas, 115, 176, 179, 
186, 285; visits of, at Sinsinawa 
Mound, 145, 146; marriage of, 251 

McKnight, Mrs. Thomas, 145 

McSherry, Mr., 112, 113 

Madison, James, 263 

Madison (steamship), 265 

Madison (Wisconsin), land specu- 
lation in, 21, 22; choice of, as 
capital, 22 ; land on site of, 
owned by Jones, 96 ; reference 
to, 312 

Madrid (Spain), departure of 
Dodge for, 141; reference to, 300 

Magdalena River, 58, 331; journey 
of Jones up, 224 

Mahoney, D. A., opposition of, to 
Jones, 44; defense of Jones by, 
61, 64; imprisonment of, 61 

Mallwydd (Wales), birth of John 
Rice Jones at, 75 

Manning, Miss, 206 

Maracajbo (Venezuela), 227 

Marie-Louise (servant), 142 

Marlborough Road, 163 

Martin, Morgan L., candidacy of, 
for Delegate, 13, 125 ; reference 
to, 21, 126, 273 



INDEX 



349 



Mason, Charles, candidacy of, for 
Senator, 181 

Mason, Stevens T., 6, 21, 310, 311; 
election of, as Governor, 14 ; 
proclamation by, 14, 15 ; com- 
mission sent to Jones by, 123, 
124 

Massey, Mr., 154 

Massev, Mr., murder of Smith bv, 
155 

Massey, Louisa, shooting of Smith 
by, 154, 155 ; county named for, 
155 ; reference to, 325 

Massey, Woodbury, assassin of, 
154; murder of, 1«&4 ; revenge for 
murder of, 155 ; reference to, 325 

Mathieu, Albert, 224 

Mayott, Madam, 116 

Mazzuchelli, Samuel, marriages by, 
144 ; recollections of, by Jones, 
261, 262 

Meade, E. R., letter to Jones from, 
246 

Meeker, Moses, nomination of, for 
Delegate, 20 

Meeker's Grove, 124 

Menifee, Richard H., 166, 168 

Menominee River, 87 

Merionethshire (Wales), 75 

Metropolitan Hotel (Washington), 
184, 203 

Mexican War, 33, 259, 277; brav- 
est officer in, 187 

Mexico, escape of Dunlap to, 80 ; 
reference to, 136 

Michealson, Mr., 227 

Michigan, admission of, into Union, 
12, 13, 28, 126; provisional State 
government in, 18; reference to, 
324 

Michigan, Territory of, migration of 
Jones to, 3 ; efforts to secure di- 
vision of, 12 ; provisional State 
government in eastern part of, 
12 ; election of Jones as Delegate 
from, 13, 28, 125, 126; service 
of Jones as Delegate from, 14; 
difficulties in. 14-17; meeting of 
legislature of, 16 ; service of 
Jones to, 19 ; end of existence of, 
28; reference to, 86, 102; bill to 
divide, 103; extent of, 324 

Miller, John, refusal of, to act as 
second, 161 

Mills, Ben, 123 

Milwaukee, appropriation for sur- 
vey of railroad to Mississippi 
River from, 23 ; reference to, 
149, 328; memorial for survey of 
road west from, 171; banquet 
tendered to Jones at, 264, 265 



Mine a Breton (Missouri), 77, 252 

Mineral Point (Wisconsin), courts 
held at, 11; meeting of citizens 
at, 13, 125; contest between Bel- 
mont and, 20; removal of Jones 
to, 33, 147; celebration at, 33; 
arrival of Frazer at, 110; refer- 
ence to, 113, 123, 175: Jones in 
court at, 124 ; grant of land to, 
151; newspaiier at, 274 

Mining, engagement of Jones in, 7; 
success of Jones in, 9 ; activities 
of Jones in. 87, 88 

Minneapolis. 147 

Minnesota, 53, 126, 324 

Mississippi, return of Davis to, 266 

Mississippi River, crossing of, by 
..- Jones. 3, 95 ; reference to, 8, 67, 
96, 110, 118, 126, 131, 133, 135, 
146, 150, 174, 196. 198, 200, 
238, 295; reappearance of Black 
Hawk east of, 10; projects for 
railroads to, 23 ; population west 
of, 23, 24; terminus of railroad 
on, 38. 189; rapids in, 42, 43; 
railroads connecting Missouri and, 
48; shipping of lead down, 91, 
92; jurisdiction west of, 155; 
journey of Dodge up, 283 

Missouri, life of Jones in, 4, 66 ; 
political activities of John Rice 
Jones in, 4, 5, 77, 78 ; constitu- 
tional convention of, 5 ; judge of 
supreme court of, 5 : return of 
Jones to, 7 ; early French fami- 
lies in, 9 ; first draft of Constitu- 
tion of, 78; reference to, 101, 
102. 126, 139, 183, 282 

Missouri Compromise, repeal of, 47 

Missouri River, bill for railroad 
from Davenport to, 37, 41, 42; 
unorganized land west of, 46; 
railroads connecting Mississippi 
and. 48 

Mitchell, Gilbert C. R., 329 

Mobile (Alabama), 198, 207 

Montagues, 50 

Moore, Thomas P., 160 

Moore, Mr., album of Mrs. Davis 
recovered from, 289-293 

Moore. Mrs., 292 

Moore's Mill, 289, 290 

Morehead, Charles S., 83 

Morgan, James M., relations be- 
tween Jones and, 44 

Moro Castle, 2 79 

Morse. Isaac E., letter from Jones 
to, 61, 63 

Mosquera, Tomas C. D., capture of 
Bogota by, 59, 230; reception of 
Jones by, 226; capture of Aran- 



350 



GEORGE WALLACE JONES 



giirin by, 228 ; promise of, not 
to execute Arangurin, 229; din- 
ner given by, 229; warning to, 
229, 230; friendship between 
Jones and, 231; capture of Os- 
pina by, 231; appeal of Ministers 
to, 232; letter of Jones to, 233 

Mosquera, Mrs. Tomas C. D., 228, 
230 

Mount Sterling (Kentucky), 83 

Mounted Rangers, Dodge appointed 
major of, 11 

Murphy, James, 124 

Muscatine, 182 

Myers, William, 142, 152 

Nairn, Thomas S., appointment of, 

as clerk, 256; marriage of, 256 
Nashville (Tennessee), 84 
National Democratic Convention, 

177 
National Hotel ("Washington), 260, 

277 
National Theatre (Washington), 

274 
Nebraska, 126 

Nebraska, Territory of, bill for or- 
ganization of, 47 
Nelson, Mr., 227 
New Diggings (Missouri), removal 

of Jones to, 5, 77; reference to, 

80, 145, 251 
New England, settlers from, 27; 

reference to, 127 
New Granada, 57, 59, 223 ; Jones 

appointed Minister to, 216; 

treaty between United States and, 

225, 226, 227; change of name 

of, 231 
New Mexico, Territory of, bill to 

establish, 40; reference to, 176 
New Orleans, 257, 268, 279, 293, 

295 
New York, 127 
New York City, arrest of Jones in, 

60; reference to, 141, 192, 202, 

223, 265 
New York Hotel, 242 
Nicholson, Alfred O. P., 216 
North Dakota, 126, 324 
Norvell, John, 125 

O'Conner, Patrick, trial of, 155; 

petition of, to Jones, 155, 156 
O'Connor, Charles, 246 
Ohio, 3, 126, 127 
Ohio River, efforts to introduce 

slavery north of, 4, 66 ; reference 

to, 66, 110, 131, 146, 196 
Old Northwest, residence of Jones 

in, 4 



Oleon (New York), lumber from, 
146 

Oliver, Thomas, 89, 91 

Oregon, 126 

Osage, land office at, 270; reunion 
at, 270 

Osborne, W. H., interview of, with 
Jones, 206-208; reference to, 210 

Ospina, Marianna, 59, 224, 225, 
233 ; plan of Mosquera, to expel, 
226; capture of, 231; interces- 
sion of Ministers in behalf of, 
231. 232 

Otey, Mr., 255 

Pacific Ocean, 126 

Palmer, J. McAulev, 302 

Pana, 209 

Panama Railroad Company, 226, 

227 
Pardo, Secretary, 224, 225, 227, 

230 
Parker, Alexander, 83 
Parkinson, Daniel, 125 
Parraga, Secretary, 244 
Patterson, William, removal of, 

185; restoration of, 185, 186 
Paul (servant), 142 
Payne, J. U., 268, 296 
Pecatonica River, defeat of Indians 

on, 120 
Peck, James H., petition to, 89; 

letter to Jones from, 90, 91; ref- 
erence to, 301 
Penn, A. G., 279 
Penn, Mrs. A. G., 279 
Pennsylvania, 75, 109 
Pension, granting of, to Jones, 301- 

303 
Pensions, Committee on, 186, 187, 

274 
Peru (Iowa), 151, 274 
Peters, Belvard J., 83, 322 
Peyton, Bailie, arraignment of Van 

Buren by, 157; reference to, 

158, 326 
Philadelphia, John Rice Jones in, 

4, 75; reference to, 187, 253; 

committee of citizens of, 263 
Pierce, Franklin, 56, 102, 141, 269, 

275; appointments by, 139, 140, 

186, 280 ; attempt of, to secure 

Jones as second for Cilley, 160, 

161; friendship of Jones and, 187 
Pioneer Law-Makers Association, 

address by Jones before, 68 
Pittman, Mrs., boarding house of, 

14 
Place, Thomas, 289 
Platteville (Wisconsin), 124 
Plumbe, John, 172 



INDEX 



351 



Plumbe, John, Jr., 23, 171; career 

of, 172 
Plumbe, Richard, 172 
Politics, interest of Jones in, 11 
Polk, James K., 33, 172, 177, 183; 

Jones restored to office by, 113, 

114; friendship of Jones and, 

187 
Polk, Mrs. James K., 114 
Pope, John, 173, 239 
Pope, Nathaniel, 238, 239 
Porter, David B., 278, 279 
Porter, David R., 188 
Porter, George B., 124 
Portugal, Minister to, 259 
Posey, Alexander, Dodge ordered to 

take command of brigade of, 119, 

121, 148; reference to, 149 
Possums, 178, 179 
Postmaster, service of Jones as, 10 
Postmaster General, mention of 

Jones for position of, 188 
Potosi (Missouri), removal of Jones 

to, 5, 77, 82; reference to, 85, 

251, 252, 253 
Potosi (Wisconsin), 155 
Powell, Eliza, marriage of, 75 
Prairie du Chien, 88, 89, 150, 294 
Pratt, Judge, 132 
Preemption, right of, 151 
Prentice, George B., 238, 240 
Prindle, Captain, 6, 84 

Quigley, Patrick, 152, 176, 178, 
179, 186; biography of Jones by, 
181 

Racine (Wisconsin), 264 

Railroads, interest of Jones in sub- 
ject of, 23 ; efforts of Jones to 
secure grants for, 36, 37, 38, 48 
49; memorial for survey of, 171 
appropriations for survey of, 171 
bill granting lands for, 190 

Register of Land Office, appoint- 
ment of Dodge as, 138, 139 

Reid, Dr., 258 

Reid, Miss, 279; marriage of, 280 

Reid, James A., 254 

Reid, Samuel C, 279, 280 

Relay House, 102, 177 

Republican party, beginning of, 48 ; 
ascendancy of, 50 ; control of 
legislature by, 52 

Republicans, 53 ; attitude of, to- 
ward Jones, 65 

Reynolds, John, appointment of 
Dunn urged by, 111; reference 
to, 239 

Richardson, William A., 198, 206, 
331 



Rider, Mr., 298 

Rives, John C, 82, 107, 164 

Rock Island, Indian Agent at, 10; 

reference to, 115 
Rocky Mountains, 172 
Rogers, Thomas, 180 
Roundtree, John H., career of, 124 ; 

marriage of, 124 
Rowan, .John, 76 
Russia, Minister to, 218 
Ryan, William, contribution by, to 

fund, 298 

Sac Indians, 148 

Sac and Fox Indians, agent of, 115; 
girls captured by, 116 

St. Charles Hotel (New Orleans), 
293, 296 

St. Gemme, Bertolme, 142 

St. Louis, Jones in school at, 5, 
82; reference to, 9, 66, 76, 81, 
87, 89, 96, 97, 118, 142, 146, 
170, 251, 253, 254, 256, 279, 
282, 283: death of John Rice 
Jones in, 77, 78 ; shipping of lead 
to, 91, 92 

St. Nicholas Hotel (New York), 223 

St. Vrain, Felix, murder of, 10, 115- 
118; efforts of, to prevent Indian 
war, 118; reference to, 148 

St. Vrain, Julia, 254 

St. Vrain, Savinien, 142 

Ste. Genevieve (Missouri), removal 
of Jones to, 4, 77, 81, 82; educa- 
tion of Jones at, 5 ; Jones in 
study of law at, 7 ; return of 
Jones to, 8, 9, 86, 92; return of 
Mrs. Jones to, 10; reference to, 
11, 80, 87, 88, 91, 102, 111, 113, 
115, 119, 131, 132, 139, 142, 
143, 252, 254, 302; law practice 
of Jones at, 85 ; departure of 
Jones from, 86 ; petition of citi- 
zens of, 90 

Ste. Genevieve County, 89 

Samuels, Benjamin M., nomination 
of, for Senator, 52 ; reference to, 
210 

Samuels, George, purchase of lead 
prospect of, 255 

San Francisco, 81, 172; memorial 
for survey of railroad to, 171 

Santa Fe de Bogota (see Bogota) 

Santa Maria, Senor, 224, 225 

Savage, John, marriage of, 280 

Schaumbourg, James W., 161, 162, 
163, 165, 168, 257 

Scott, Andrew, marriage of, 80 ; de- 
scendants of, 80 ; reference to, 
81, 119, 145, 251, 285 

Scott, Dr. Andrew, 80 



352 



GEORGE WALLACE JONES 



Scott, Eliza, marriage of, 80, 143, 
144 

Scott, Elizabeth, marriage of, 80, 
145 

Scott, Fanny, marriage of, 251 

Scott, George Dodge, 81 

Scott, George Scull Crittenden, 80 

Scott, Henry Clay, 80 

Scott, John, Jones in law office of, 
7; marriage of, 81; reference to, 
85, 94, 97, 99, 101, 119, 142, 
145, 251, 285, 301, 322; petition 
bv, 89 ; defeat of, for Representa- 
tive, 101, 102 

Scott, Mrs. John, death of John 
Rice Jones at home of, 77, 78 ; 
reference to, 86, 142 

Scott, John Rice Homer, 80 

Scott, Winfield, 278 

Sebastian, William K., 54 

Senator, United States, Jones as, 4 ; 
election of Grimes as, 52 ; last 
session of Jones as, 56 

Senators, United States, first elec- 
tion of, in Iowa, 34. 35. 178-182 

Sevier, Ambrose H., 103, 104, 268 

Seward, Frederick, 235 

Seward, Mrs. Frederick, 238 

Seward, William H., 42, 187. 234, 
235, 237, 238; arrest of Jones 
by order of, 60, 244; compliments 
to Jones by, 233 ; address to 
troops by, 236; Jones introduced 
to Lincoln by, 236; visit of Jones 
with, 241, 242 ; suit of Jones 
against, 246, 247; denunciation 
of, by Foote, 272 

Shannon, George A., 152, 153 

Shannon, Susan, 92 

Shannon, Susan, 142 

Shannon, William, reward for cap- 
ture of Dunlap offered by, 79, 
80; reference to, 89, 90, 92 

Shannon, Mrs. William, 86, 93 

Sheean, Mr., return of, from Fort 
Lafayette, 209 

Sheldon, John P., appointment of, 
to land office, 12 ; recollections of. 
by Jones, 273, 274 

Sherman, John, 302, 334 

Shields, James, 38, 44, 191, 198, 
201, 206, 255; amendment to 
railroad bill favored by, 189; let- 
ter to Jones from, 203, 204 

Shrader, Mary, marriage of. 111 

Shrader, Otto, 111 

Sinipee (Wisconsin), public meet- 
ing at, 171 

Sinsinawa Mound, location of Jones 
at, 8, 86; mining operations of 
Jones at, 9 ; house built at, by 



Jones, 10, 143 ; preparation for 
defense of, 10; reference to, 11, 
32, 33, 69, 91, 96, 113, 114, 122, 
137, 155, 264; jurisdiction over 
region of, 12 ; return of Jones to, 
31, 95; visits of Davis at, 89; 
arrival of Mrs. Jones at, 143 ; 
claim taken by Jones at, 145 ; 
removal of Jones from, 147; In- 
dian massacre at, 149 

Sircey, Judge, 135 ; marriage of 
Dodge by, 136; reference to, 137 

Sircey, Mrs., 136 

Sisters of Charitj', 223 

Sioux City, proposed railroad from 
Dubuque to, 189 ; land owned by 
Jones on site of, 323 

Slavery, efforts to introduce, north 
of Ohio River, 4, 66; attitude of 
Jones toward, 40; attitude of 
people of Iowa toward, 41 ; dis- 
position of, in Kansas-Nebraska 
bill, 47 ; constitutional rights of, 
64; acquaintance of Jones with, 
66 

Smith, Bill, life of Jones threatened 
by, 154; murder of Massey by, 
154; shooting of, by Louisa Mas- 
sey, 154, 155 ; murder of father 
of, 155 ; reference to, 325 

Smith, Bishop, Jones induced to ac- 
cept appointment by, 219, 220 

Smith, John Cotton, 277 

Smith, Truman, 244 

Smith T, John, trial of, 89 

Soulard, James G., 146 

South, sympathy of Jones toward, 
51, 63 ; friendliness of Buchanan 
toward, 51; reasons for sjinpathy 
of Jones with, 65-67 ; visits of 
Jones to, 67 

South America, experiences of Jones 
in, 58 

South American Bureau, chief of, 
222 

South Dakota, 126, 324 

Spain, Minister to, appointment of 
Dodge as, 56, 139, 140; service 
of Dodge as, 141 

Spanish language, learning of, by 
Jones, 224, 225 

Speculation, opportunity for, 22 ; 
success of Jones in, 22, 23 

Sprague, J., 219 

Springfield (Illinois), 209, 236, 
237, 240 

Squatter sovereignty, 51 

Stahl. Frederick, 117 

Stanton, Edwin M., 246 

Stephens, Alexander H., 286 

Stephenson, James W., 116 



INDEX 



353 



Stewart, Adam Duncan, marriage 
of, 276 

Stokely, Mr., 102 

Sub-Treasury Bill, 263, 265 

Sucker State, origin of term, 8 

Sumner, Charles, 187 

Supreme Court, Jones as Clerk of, 
147 

Surveyor General, service of Jones 
as, 31, 32, 33, 175; location of 
office of, 32; reference to, 112, 
178, 180; Jones restored to of- 
fice of, 113-115 

Swan's Hotel (Iowa City), 181 

Tama County, 289 

Taney, Roger B., 263, 322; recol- 
lections of, by Jones, 264 

Taylor, Mr., 258 

Taylor, Hawkins, 179 

Taylor, Zachary, 34, 99, 178, 179, 
222, 259, 323; appointment by, 
100 

Tennessee, 84, 197 

Tete des Morts River, 196 

Texas, intention of Jones to re- 
move to, 63 ; escape of Dunlap 
to, 80 ; removal of Jones brothers 
to, 81 ; reference to, 136 

Thomas, Frank, 173 

Thomas, Jesse B., bond given by, 
77; reference to, 240 

Thompson, Jacob, 206, 208, 209, 
268 

Thurman, Allen G., 266 

Tibbatts, John W., 83, 322 

Tiber River (Washington, D. C), 
190; fall of Davis into, 266, 267 

Timon, John, 223 

Tippecanoe, battle of, 78 

Toucey, Isaac, 223 

Transylvania University, entrance 
of, by Jones, 5 : experiences of 
Jones at, 5-7, 82-85 ; graduation 
of Jones from, 7 ; graduation of 
Rice Jones from, 78, 79; refer- 
ence to, 82, 123, 240, 257, 260, 
275 

Truitt, Myers F., marriage of, 262 

Turney, John, 123 

Turpie, David, bill for pension in- 
troduced by, 302 

Turpin, E. A., letters from Jones 
to, 6 

Tyler, John, 112; appointment of 
Doty by, 126, 127 

Union, desire of Jones for main- 
tenance of, 40, 64, 65; dissolu- 
tion of, 63 

Union Philosophical Society, 91 



United States, treaty between New 
Granada and, 225, 226, 227 

United States Dragoons, First Regi- 
ment of. Colonel of, 106, 123 

United States of Colombia, 57, 59, 
216, 217, 231 

Utah, Territory of, bill to establish, 
40 

Van Antwerp, A^erplank, 45 

Van Buren, Martin, 26, 84, 101, 
112, 114, 172, 176, 178, 264, 
265, 266, 275, 308; county 
named for, 101 ; appointments by, 
130, 131; arraignment of, 157; 
defense of, by Cilley, 157, 158; 
intention of, to appoint Jones as 
Governor, 174 

Vandalia (Illinois), 122 

Van Pelt, Mrs., 295 

Vilar, Miss, 134, 136 

Vilas, William F., 302 

Vincennes (Indiana), birth of Jones 

at, 3, 65, 75 ; settlement of John 

Rice Jones at, 4 ; removal of John 

" Rice Jones to, 76 ; reference to, 

78 

Virginia, 76, 125 

Wade, Benjamin F., 54 

Wales, birth of John Rice Jones in, 
75 

Walker, Robert J., 129, 173 

Walling, Mr., 185 

Waples House (Dubuque), dinner 
at, 130 

War of 1812, Jones as drummer 
boy in, 68; reference to, 82, 119, 
263, 273, 280, 302 

Warren, Mr., pass taken up bv, 
209, 210 

Washburne, Mrs. E. B., 264 

Washington, George, 122 

Washington's Birthday ball, 254, 
255 

Washington (D. C). visit of Jones 
to, 32, 67, 301; absence of Jones 
from, 46 ; return of Jones to, 
from Bogota, 60 ; reference to, 
102, 192, 202, 220, 265; arrival 
of Jones and Dodge in, 182 ; 
journey of Jones and Dodge to, 
184; departure of Jones from, 
for Bogota, 223; belle of, 275 

Washington (State), 126 

Waterloo, 289 

Watters, Tom, 255 

Webb, James Watson, charge 
against, 157, 158; note to Cilley 
from, 158; reference to, 170, 326 

Webster, Daniel, land speculations 



354 



GEORGE WALLACE JONES 



of Jones and, 22, 23, 96-99; ref- 
erence to, 36, 99, 101, 277; debt 
of, to Jones, 98; Jenny Lind ap- 
plauded by, 275; interest in fer- 
ry sold to, 314, 315, 322, 323 

Webster, Sidney, 140 

Wells, Sarah, 283 

West Point, graduation of Davis at, 
89; reference to, 182, 253 

Western Military Institute, Charles 
Jones in school at, 227, 259; 
Blaine professor at, 286 

Whigs, attitude of, toward compro- 
mise, 39; minority of, 44; dis- 
appearance of, 47 

White, Joseph M., 103, 104 

Wilkie, F. B., 313 

Willard's Hotel (Washington), 237 

Williams, Joseph, 45 

Williams, Lieutenant, duel between 
Jones and, 313 

Willoughby, Lord, 141 

Wilmot, David, 184 

Wilmot Proviso, attitude of Iowa 
toward, 39 

Wilson, David S., 254 

Wilson, Francis S., 283 

Wilson, John, letter to Jones from, 
204, 205; reference to, 256 

Wilson, Joseph, 256 

Wilson, Samuel M., 81 

Wilson, Thomas S., candidacy of, 
for Senator, 34, 49, 50, 179-182; 
reference to, 45, 52, 329; con- 
versation between Jones and, 180, 
181 

Wiltse, Henry A., 254 

Winchester (Illinois), 195 

Winnebago Indians, interpretress 
for, 116; reference to, 148; agent 
for, 265 

Wisconsin, location of Jones in, 8 ; 
Jones as Surveyor General for, 
31; reference to, 86, 126, 166, 



177, 324; federal appointments 
in, 113, 114 
Wisconsin, Territory of, 3, 98, 174; 
efforts to secure establishment of, 

17, 18; bill for establishment of, 

18, 103; establishment of, 18, 
126; organization of, 19; officers 
of, 19 ; election of Delegate in, 

19, 20, 27, 28; struggle over lo- 
cation of capital of, 20-22 ; Jones 
as Delegate from, 23 ; population 
of, 23 ; division of, secured by 
Jones, 23, 24; term of Jones as 
Delegate from, 28, 29, 30; Jones 
as Clerk of Supreme Court of, 
33 ; appointment of officers of, 
103-111; bill for division of, 127; 
memorial from, 171; appointment 
of Dodge as Governor of, 175 

Wisconsin Heights, battle of, 150 

Wisconsin River, 150 

Wise, Henry A., 25, 158, 165, 166, 
173 ; petitions for expulsion of, 
25 ; arraignment of Van Buren 
by, 157; challenge amended by, 
159; challenge carried by, 159; 
character of, 159, 160; arrange- 
ments for duel made by Jones 
and, 164, 165 ; service of, as sec- 
ond in duel, 167-169; statement 
concerning Cilley duel by, 169, 
170 

Wood, Lieutenant, 245 

Woodbridge, William W., nomina- 
tion of, for Delegate, 13, 125; 
election certificate claimed by, 15 ; 
reference to, 118, 126, 148, 273, 
310; election of Jones contested 
by, 126 

Wright, George G., 287 

Wright, Silas, 178, 255 

Wyeth, Jacob, marriage of, 143, 144 

Yell, Archibald, 159 



U 56 
















♦ «? «»^, o^ 


















• .1^^^^. -(^1^° ,.<b^>^ 











^"•n.^ 



^^".,. 



^^ ••t:,.' .<!,^' 





V' .. 





















-^-o 









4> o'"'* 





o'^ .*•«' "^O 



